


Buried Deeper

by camichats



Category: Marvel
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Anal Sex, Angst, Blow Jobs, Canon-Typical Violence, Explicit Sexual Content, Falling In Love, Fluff, Hand Jobs, M/M, Minor Character Death, Miscommunication, Misunderstandings, Multi, Polyamory Negotiations, Rimming, Threesome - M/M/M, Torture, eventual polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-28
Packaged: 2019-09-23 05:24:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 33,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17074232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/camichats/pseuds/camichats
Summary: Ten years ago, Tony had a summer romance on an archaeological dig that... did not end well. Now that he’s trying to sort out the company after Howard’s death, he sees a request from the dig site, requesting a Stark presence to approve additional funding. Pepper thinks it’s a good idea, so Tony goes back. Only, like so many other things in his life, it doesn’t go according to plan.Or, how Tony falls in love again then finds out that his new guy is best friends with the old one, and somehow he ends up with both of them.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NotEvenCloseToStraight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotEvenCloseToStraight/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Buried](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12063723) by [NotEvenCloseToStraight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotEvenCloseToStraight/pseuds/NotEvenCloseToStraight). 



> An AU based on NotEvenCloseToStraight‘s fic Buried. Things stray starting in Chapter Three of her work, so if you haven’t read it go do that! Things won’t make sense if you don’t at least read up to the line that I start with (it is also the only line taken directly from her fic, with permission and bolded for emphasis). Her fic is Tony/Steve, I'm a ho for Winteriron, but also for Stuckony and so this happened. 
> 
> If, for some reason, you don't want to read her fic first, the summary here^ should be enough to get you through the beginning with only a little bit of confusion. 
> 
> Many thanks to NotEvenCloseToStraight for letting me write this AU! All OC's are her creation, as is the plotline. This is 100% her world, which she put lots and lots of effort into creating. I only wanted some Tony/Bucky loving in it :D

**"Commander Barnes, are you there? We need an escort to the temple site!"**

A man ducked out of the dorm door, straightening, and Tony felt his eyes widen in decided interest. The man-- Commander Barnes, evidently-- was big. Broad shoulders lined with muscles and strong hands, and Tony was already reconsidering Pepper's suggestion to hook up with someone while he was here. Packaged with grey eyes, long hair pulled back in a bun, and scruff along his jaw, Tony wondered if it would be too forward to start flirting. "We?" Commander Barnes said, eyes flicking to Tony, then again, giving him a quick but appreciative once over.

"Yes," Melissa said with an excited smile. "Mister Stark would like a tour of the temple, to see what we've uncovered so far." Tony noticed that she didn't say anything about his concerns for their safety, and he was glad for it. Telling the security team leader that he didn't have complete faith in their ability to do their job? That was going to be a delicate matter, and he wasn't looking forward to it.

Commander Barnes smiled at him, and Tony could swear his heart skipped a beat. "Sure thing, sweet thing," he said with a wink. "You ready to leave now?"

Tony nodded, and the three of them set off.

"So," Commander-call-me-Bucky-Barnes said after they made their way into the forest, "I'm surprised ya came down here. Melissa's been tryin' to get in touch with you for a while now."

He wasn't accusing when he said it, but Tony responded like he had been. "I wasn't in charge--" or sober "--until a few months ago, I didn't know we were still funding this dig, I didn't know anything beyond the village had been found, I didn't know it had gotten more dangerous." Tony shrugged. "Take your pick."

"I didn't mean nothin' by it darlin', I was just wonderin' why I hadn't gotten to see your magnificent ass around these parts before now. It woulda made this job a lot more enjoyable."

Melissa choked on nothing and flushed, taking several steps at a hurried jog so that she was far enough ahead that she could at least pretend not to hear what they were saying.

"Do you ever stop flirting?" Tony asked, amused.

"Only when I'm too tired for it," he said with a suggestive leer.

"Is she alright up there? By herself, I mean. I thought it was dangerous."

"Dangerous by herself, but they're not lookin' to kill so she's fine. I'm keepin' an eye on her." Bucky lifted one side of his shirt to show smooth skin that had a scar marring an otherwise perfect surface and Tony felt his mouth go dry at the tease.

And then he realized that Bucky was actually showing him a gun.

He flushed and looked away, clearing his throat. "It looks- uh, safe." Forcing his mind back to the issue at hand, he said, "But only temporarily. How long is a handgun going to work until they come along with a machine gun and level you out?"

"You want me justify this," Bucky stated, cutting through the bullshit Tony was, admittedly, using to try and get a rise out of him. "While you're real pretty doll, I'm not sure your head's empty enough to not have your own ideas."

Tony raised an eyebrow challengingly. "You're the one I need to be convinced is worth it."

"Oh I'm worth plenty doll," Bucky purred, but after a moment he turned serious. "I don't know much about archaeology. But I can tell ya that if you don't fund this, someone else will, and they won't care about keepin' everyone safe, or keepin' that temple intact."

"You think that little about people?"

"I think we're all in it f'r the money," he said, "and that archaeology doesn't pay as well as black market artifacts."

"But they're pieces of history," Tony said, aghast. He understood though. He'd been at a gala for some charity for children recently, and it had killed him to see how many of them were there for the appearance and not because they gave a shit. He'd actually heard someone say 'Well, really, who cares about any of those children? They won't amount to anything' after they donated ten thousand dollars. He sighed. "I'm not going to cut funding and you know it, so stop being an asshole."

Bucky shrugged unrepentantly. "You tol' me t' convince ya."

"I meant, tell me what your team's doing and what the extra money would be doing for your efforts, not 'call me a terrible person please'," Tony grumbled.

Tony had thought that was obvious, but Bucky blinked and went "Oh," so maybe he really had just misunderstood. "Well right now, we're escortin' them back and forth and patrolling the area."

"And you need more money for…?"

"More staff," Bucky said simply. "Some of my team is only part time, and they're all overworked right now." He offered Tony a hand to cross a log, and it wasn't so big that Tony needed help, but he took his hand anyways, just to touch his hand. "Honestly you need t' hire a new security team to take over."

"You have other plans?"

Bucky shrugged, effectively not giving Tony an answer. "When I took the job, it was s'posed to be temporary. Melissa was tellin' me the other day that this is gonna take years to excavate, and that's not the sorta job I want."

"Most people would be happy to have a little job security, especially in your line of work."

"Was that a pun?"

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean," Tony said innocently, but he cracked when Bucky raised an eyebrow. Good god that little smirk was going to be the death of him.

"Just doesn't sit right with me, stayin' in one place so long."

"Don't want to settle down?"

"I might," Bucky said, glancing at Tony with something like a promise in his expression, "for the right person."

Tony held his eyes, and it felt like something passed between them. Tony was going to-- fuck he didn't know, kiss him?-- but he tripped over a tree root because he was too busy gazing lovingly into the eyes of someone he barely knew, and the moment was broken.

He heard a choked noise above him and knew that Bucky was covering up a laugh. Even though he was face down in the mud and leaves, he didn't blame him; he would have laughed too. However, since he was face down in the mud, he was flushed an embarrassed red when Bucky helped him up.

"You okay doll?" he asked, struggling to keep a straight face. "Anythin' hurt?"

"Just my pride," he mumbled, rubbing ineffectually at his face.

Bucky's hands replaced his, wiping off the bigger smudges. At least he hadn't landed in a flat pie full-- just a couple leaves full. "Don' worry about it, we've all been there."

"Oh yeah? You want to show me pictures of the time you dropped into mud?"

Bucky's voice dropped low. "Why Mister Stark, you ain't paying me enough for that."

"If I were paying you for it, it wouldn't be half as much fun."

They flirted back and forth for the remainder of the walk, and it was the most fun Tony had had in… god, years probably. As soon as the temple came into view though, Tony had a single minded focus. He walked to the wall in a stunned daze, eyes tracing the familiar but somewhat forgotten shapes and words. He was so focused on reacquainting himself with the language that he didn't even notice when Melissa hung back to talk to Bucky.

"Bucky," she said, wringing her hands nervously, "I know your two settings are 'flirt' and 'take them to bed', but do you think you could ease up a little? He doesn't look uncomfortable yet, but I don't want to risk the dig."

"Relax Mel, he's fine. Stark's a big boy, he can tell me t' fuck off without blamin' ya for it."

Melissa glanced between the two of them nervously. "Well… if you're sure," she said uneasily. Feeling that she had gotten as much of a promise as she was going to get, she went up the last couple of steps to join Tony at the temple's doorway. Bucky trailed behind, and if that happened to give him a much better view of Tony's ass? Well, he was sure that Tony wouldn't mind. He was watching Tony, not paying attention to what was happening between the two of them other than that.

Tony gestured a lot, and Bucky could see the pull and bunch of muscles under his shirt. He wasn't bodybuilder material, but it was more than he'd been expecting from a billionaire. He was surprised by more than just a few muscles with Tony though, and that intrigued him. What kind of billionaire was interested in archaeology enough that they could keep up in a conversation with the leader of the dig? Why was he actually dressed for the climate instead of sporting two hundred dollar shoes and bitching about the cost when they got ruined? Hell, why had Tony showed up at all? Wasn't this the sort of thing that got delegated? Tony-- or Stark Industries-- must be funding over a dozen projects; there was no way he was personally checking in on all of them. So why this one?

He was so caught up in his thoughts that it took him a second to speak up when Tony moved as if to enter the temple. "Sorry dollface, but ya can't go in there."

Tony turned to him, frowning. "Why not?" he asked, more than a hint of brattiness in his tone. It should have turned Bucky off-- at least a little-- but he found himself charmed by it instead. "I've been on a dig here before, I'm not going to ruin anything."

"I know ya won't mean to sweetness, but these kids've been working real hard and they have it all set up precise. I don't even go in there unless Melissa asks me to."

"Oh," Melissa said, looking desperately between Tony and Bucky, scrambling to recover Tony's good mood. "Commander Barnes, surely it wouldn't hurt if we popped in for just a moment. Mister Stark, is funding this entire project after all."

"When were you last here?"

Bucky had asked because he was curious, but evidently Tony thought that was an argument point-- and a good one-- because he sighed and nodded, turning back to the temple front but taking a step back. "It was a while ago," he admitted. He gave a little self-deprecating laugh and shook his head like he was dislodging bad memories. "Thanks for offering Melissa, but Bucky's right; I wouldn't mean to, but I'd probably mess something up if you let me in." He shot a longing look at the entrance to the temple but stayed back. "We can head back to the camp if you want."

"Are you finished looking?" Melissa asked. "Because we can stay up here as long as you want. Deanna's taking care of things back at the camp."

Tony glanced at Bucky to see if he had any objections, but he shrugged. "Cap's handling things on our end."

"I… think I'd like to stay. Just a little bit longer," he hedged, knowing full well that he would stay well into the night if they let him-- not that they would, it would be far too dangerous. He went back to the wall, taking a closer look now that he had the time. His head turned this way and that, looking at the words he thought he'd forgotten years ago but apparently still remembered.

"You know your stuff Mister Stark," Melissa said when he finished, smiling excitedly.

He gave her a half-smile, trying to not let it go to his head but failing miserably. "It's been a while," he said, aiming for modesty but probably falling short. "So you've been bringing back a lot from this site?"

Melissa nodded, ponytail bobbing. "At least a case every week."

"That's what my team's sendin' off," Bucky added, and Tony nodded. He'd wondered why the security team would be watching over the archaeologists' belongings, but if they were the artifacts that had been causing so much trouble, it made sense.

Melissa nodded, smiling gratefully at Bucky before turning back to Tony. "Commander Barnes and his team have been wonderful, we couldn't have done this without them. We've had over a dozen cases since they got here, and it helps everyone sleep better to not worry about thieves."

"A dozen cases," Tony repeated wondrously. "When I was here, we barely had a single box for the entire season."

"You were on this dig?" Melissa asked, and Tony realized that he never told her. She'd heard that he was on a dig before, familiar with the language, but that was a far cry from being on this specific dig.

"Just for one season years ago." Tony gave the wall one last, lingering look, and turned around. "We can head back now."

"Satisfied?" Bucky asked with a suggestive smirk. Melissa flushed pink and shot Bucky a 'what the hell are you doing' look that he ignored.

Not wanting to embarrass her further, Tony ignored that. ~~It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he wanted to tell Bucky that no, he wasn't, could he get a little help with that?~~  "Don't worry Melissa," he said, clapping a hand on her shoulder, "your dig's funding is secure."

She beamed. "Really? You're giving us the extra money?"

"Yep. I just wanted to make sure it was worth the risk, and it clearly is," he said, gesturing back at the temple as they made their way back into the forest.

"Oh thank you so much Mister Stark! I promise, you will not regret this. We're making breakthroughs in this regions history, completely revolutionizing the way they view their ancestors! You have no idea the impact this will have, thank you so much."

Tony couldn't have kept a smile off his face if he wanted to. "It's not a problem; you've earned it."

Melissa all but squealed, and Bucky leaned down to talk in Tony's ear. "You just made her week, doll."

Tony shivered, and he hoped that Bucky didn't see it, but when he glanced up to look at him, it was obvious that he had. "Any way I can make yours?"

"Sweetheart, you don't even have to ask." Bucky's eyes were dark with desire, and Tony thought he was about to get kissed within an inch of his life.

Except then Melissa was clearing her throat pointedly, and Tony realized that at some point they'd stopped walking to have their little moment. Heat rose in Tony's cheeks, and he stepped away even though Melissa had averted her eyes. "Should I go ahead Commander Barnes? It seems like the two of you want some time alone."

"Nah. Thanks Mel, but that wouldn't be very safe. I don't want any accidents happenin' in the last week just cause I wanted a cute piece of ass." He winked at Tony.

"More than a piece," Tony muttered, so only Bucky could hear.

"That a promise sweet thing?" he asked, equally quiet.

"Maybe," Tony said, but coupled with the look he was giving Bucky, it was obvious that he meant 'definitely'. He licked his lips and saw Bucky's eyes drop to watch. "We shouldn't keep Melissa waiting," he said.

"Right." Bucky shook himself. "Right." They started walking again, and Melissa stuck close to them, maybe for safety but probably just to remind them that she was right there and they shouldn't get distracted. "So how're things stateside?"

"Pretty much the same as they have been."

"Nothin's changed in six months?" Bucky asked doubtfully.

"You've been gone six months?"

He nodded.

"There was an election while you were gone."

"Who won?"

"Potus."

Bucky made a noise of disgust that had Tony laughing. "Not like I want anyone else he jus' bugs me."

"He's a pain in the ass," Tony said with a snort.

"Know that from personal experience?"

Tony nodded. "Stark remember? I've been meeting presidents since I was four."

"Are they all disappointing?" Melissa asked.

"Yep."

"What about music?" Bucky asked. "Anything interestin' happen there?"

"I don't know what you like, but I can guess so… no, nothing interesting happened."

"Oh? And just what d'you think I like doll?"

"Lots of guitar."

Bucky's grin widened. "Am I that easy?"

"Well I haven't even gotten a kiss yet, so I'm going to say no."

"Oh my god," Melissa said under her breath.

Bucky laughed. "Don't worry Mel, I'm not gonna make you watch that."

"Good," she said, but Tony stuck out his bottom lip in a pout.

Bucky raised an eyebrow at his expression, but it was obvious he was affected if the way his eyes did a quick perusal of Tony's body were any indication. "You a voyeur or somethin' sweet thing? Cause we might have some trouble there, I don' like sharin'."

"I don't like to be shared, so don't worry."

"Can you please keep it in your pants?" Melissa said, practically begging.

Tony shot her a smile, apologetic and a little surprised at himself as well. "Sorry Melissa. Why don't you talk since we can't seem to control ourselves. Tell me about the dig," he suggested. "You've gone over the general information, why don't you fill me in on some specifics."

"Like what?" she asked, casting her thoughts around for a suitable topic.

"The food," Bucky said, making an exaggerated face of disgust.

Melissa laughed. "It's not that bad. Really Mister Stark, it's not," she insisted, as if worried that he would take personal offense to the state of their menu. "We're more concerned with nutritional value and it not spoiling than… other factors," she said delicately, which Tony took to mean that yes, generally the taste was utter shit.

"Maybe I'll see about getting you a better selection while I'm at it," he said, shaking his head with a grin. He remembered his days on the dig, and honestly he hadn't thought about the food all that much, more focused on- …other things. The memory of short blond hair and a wide smile flashed through his mind, and he shoved it back into the 'Never Open' box where it belonged. God he hated South America, despite Melissa and Bucky's best efforts for him to change his mind. "What artifacts have you found?" he asked, craving more information and knowing that while he would be able to get it soon enough, he wanted it now. Besides, hearing Melissa describe everything would surely prove to be more interesting than reading a physical description.

As Melissa started talking, describing the various golden and jewel encrusted vessels, Tony found himself so caught up in what she was saying that he started stumbling more often than before, not paying attention to where he was walking. After helping him straighten three times in as many minutes, Bucky kept his hand on Tony's arm, catching him before he had a chance to try and fall.

Tony didn't have a great concept on time at the moment, riveted by Melissa's stories and descriptions as he was, and since he didn't know the forest all that well either, he didn't realize that they were getting close until Melissa said something about it. He'd eaten on the flight, but that had been a while ago, and he was looking forward to eating again, even if Melissa later admitted that the food was rather slimy and bland because they were eating imported cans and MRE's from the states instead of eating the local food like Tony had done when he was on the dig ten years ago-- but then, the group had been much smaller back then.

Bucky stopped suddenly, jerking Tony to a halt along with him and making Tony cut off in the middle of a sentence. Melissa slowed a few steps before stopping as well, looking at Bucky with an expression of pure confusion. Still holding onto Tony with one hand, he raised the other to wave her over.

Frown deepening, Melissa did so.

"D'you hear a chopper?" Bucky whispered, eyes darting between the two of them.

They went silent, scrunching their faces like that would make their ears work better. After a few moments, they both nodded, and Bucky cursed under his breath. "Tony," he said, voice more serious than Tony had ever heard it in their short time of knowing each other, "is there any chance it's yours?"

He shook his head immediately. They had dropped him off and had plans to pick him up again in a few days' time, so why would they come back? He said that out loud, and Bucky doubled down on staring at Tony intensely.

"Is there  _ any chance _ it's yours?" he repeated as the sound of the spinning blade got closer.

"No. They left as soon as I got off, and they have a busy schedule. They wouldn't drop all that just to come get me a couple hours later."

"Not even for an emergency?"

He shook his head again. "They have the number," he said, pulling out his satellite phone, "and they know to call, not just show up."

"You're sure?"

"Yes I'm sure what the hell is going on?"

"Helicopters are either rich people or a bad fuckin' situation. We've got the rich person," he said, face twisting with a rueful half smile.

"What are you saying?" Melissa said, dreading to hear the answer.

Bucky opened his mouth to answer when suddenly the sound of a machine gun let loose. From one moment to the next, Tony and Melissa went from standing to pulled to the ground by Bucky, hiding against the trunk of a particularly large tree.

The ground around them was still; they weren't the ones being shot at. It was rattlingly loud in the forest all the same, unnatural and jarring as the rat-a-tat overcame the sound of bugs and other various animals gone suddenly quiet at the foreign invasion.

Bucky was holding both of them close, hands tight on their shoulders, and Melissa hunched into it, holding her hands over her ears with a whimper. Tony leaned away a little though, looking up at the patches of sky that he could see through the leaves. His eyes roved over dozens of shades of green before he caught the flash of black he was looking for. "What-?" he started to ask, then stopped, paling. "Oh god," he breathed.

"What? Tony," Bucky said, moving his hand from Tony's shoulder to his chin, turning his face to look at him when he didn't immediately respond, "what?"

"The camp," he said numbly, eyes wide. "They're shooting at the camp."

Bucky cursed, turning his head to look behind them in the direction of the camp, but because of their position at the base of the tree, he couldn't see anything.

Melissa flinched, hard, when they heard screaming. "Johnny." The name fell from Melissa's mouth by accident; she hadn't meant to say anything but they'd been friends for so long and she knew that was his voice. "Oh my god Johnny." His scream cut out sharply, too sudden to mean anything other than a death sentence, and Melissa closed her eyes tightly. It didn't stop tears from leaking out.

Bucky started moving, trying to detach himself from them so he could stand.

Melissa's eyes flew open and she clutched at his shirt desperately. "Where are you going?"

"To see if I c'n help," he said, voice low and soothing. "You and Tony are goin' to stay here okay?"

"No," Tony said firmly, causing Bucky to look at him, mouth already open in objection.

"Ya can't do anything out there sweetheart-"

"Neither can you," Tony said plainly.

Bucky blinked, taken aback.

"They're in a chopper with a fucking minigun attached to it, you aren't going to be able to do shit."

"People are dying."

"And if you walk in there you're going to be one of them."

Bucky cast a conflicted look towards the camp before looking back at Tony. "I can't just let them die."

"When they stop, we'll look. If they decide to send people down, we'll fight. But right now? That's a fucking suicide mission." It made sense. Tony knew it made sense. It still made him sick to his stomach to say it. He glanced at Melissa and felt a pang of sadness at how obviously terrified she was, shaking in place and looking like she might drop dead from fear alone.

Bucky grit his jaw and settled back down, and Tony felt like he could finally breathe again. He gave Melissa a sad half smile then guided her hands back to cover her ears. She did it easily, hunching over and squeezing her eyes shut as her fingers went white trying to shut out the sound of bullets.

Bucky's eye twitched every time someone screamed, and Tony kept a timer on in his head for the length of the attack. One minutes. One minute and thirteen seconds, and then the helicopter was moving on. Seventy three seconds with a minigun and people who had no training in combat situations and very little cover… Tony closed his eyes. There wouldn't be any survivors. He looked to Bucky and could see that he had reached the same conclusion. There was a grim acceptance in his eyes, and Tony hated it. Wanted to wipe his past clean and fill him with optimism like- nope, not going there. 

Eighty seconds later, Bucky was straightening, pulling Melissa to her feet and offering Tony a hand up-- that he didn't see until he was already standing. “Wait here, I'll be back." 

"Where are you going?" Melissa asked, eyes wide with terror, and Tony couldn't judge her in the slightest. He didn't particularly want Bucky to go anywhere either, even if he promised to come back. 

"Into the camp," he said, pressing the gun into Tony's hand and curling his fingers around the handle when he didn’t make a move to take it. 

"Why can't we go with you?" Tony asked. 

"Just in case." 

"I think we'd be safer with you than sitting by ourselves out here," Tony pointed out, and Melissa nodded along frantically. She'd stopped crying by now, and her face had a light covering of dirt with tear tracks down her cheeks. 

Bucky grit his jaw, and in the back of Tony's mind-- where he wasn't so scared-- he noticed that Bucky looked hot as fuck doing that. "Fine, but only because I think you'd come after me anyways." 

"That's fair." And probably would happen because while Tony was technically a genius, he wasn't always smart in practice. 

They crept into the camp, Bucky leading the way and Tony and Melissa following behind. She had one hand over her mouth to quiet her renewed sobs at seeing the corpses of people that earlier that day had been alive and working on the dig with her, and her other hand was clamped on Tony's arm, holding onto him so hard that her fingers were white and he’d have a bruise tomorrow. 

Bucky pulled a handgun from the small of his back and turned the safety off as they snuck forward. 

Tony had no idea where they were going, but he trusted that Bucky wasn't picking a building at random. His assumption was proven true when they slipped inside the door and Bucky made a beeline for his pack, and while Tony was at it, he grabbed the bag that he recognized as his own. He leaned down to grab it, then froze. Melissa wasn't holding onto his arm anymore. "Melissa?" He threw the bag over his shoulder and straightened, looking around for her in the small space, but she was nowhere to be found. 

Bucky's head shot up from where he was checking his bag for something when he heard Tony talk. "Where is she?" 

"I don't know," Tony answered with a frown, still looking around like he thought she was going to pop out of one of the beds. "She was holding onto me and then..." 

Bucky zipped up his bag and threw it on quickly, fastening it, picked up his gun, and grabbed Tony's hand as he passed him to reach the door. 

"Do you always hold people's hands under the guise of safety?" Tony asked quietly, needing to say something to try and calm himself down. 

"Always," Bucky said with a wink, equally quiet. "Do you know how to use this?" he asked Tony, pulling a handgun from the front of his waistband and showing it to him, the gun laying flat against his palm so Tony had a perfect view. 

"Are you kidding?" Tony couldn't help but ask. 

Bucky started to put it back, saying, "Well I jus' thought that maybe--" 

Tony stopped him from retreating by putting his hand on Bucky's wrist. "I'm a Stark. We don't make weapons anymore, but for the first twenty years of my life, that's all I knew." 

"No offense doll, but that doesn't mean you know how to use it in practice." 

Tony plucked the gun from Bucky's grasp. "Desert Eagle, semi-automatic, ambidextrous safety," he said, switching it off then back on, "so you're probably ambidextrous. Gas operated like a rifle to allow for more powerful rounds." He let the magazine out and peeked at the contents before sliding it back in. ".44 Magnum," he said with approval, "so you have eight rounds. You might be the hired muscle around here, but you're not the only one who knows how to handle a gun." Tony punctuated his statement by grabbing Bucky's belt loop and pulling him closer, then sticking the gun back in the front of his pants. 

Bucky's eyes were dark with interest. "Is that so," he murmured, looking immensely like he was going to lean down the few inches separating them and kiss Tony senseless."You might want to hold onto that though doll,” he said, passing it back to him. “Normally I would say shoot at anyone you don't recognize, but you don't know anyone on the team, so maybe don't." 

"Then who am I supposed to shoot?" 

"Hopefully no one, but anyone who shoots at us." Bucky didn't wait for a reply, switching his gun to his left hand and easing the door open before grabbing Tony's hand again with his right. Tony wanted to make another joke but was aware of how much danger they were in and kept his mouth shut. His little show with the Desert Eagle had been a short-lived time of levity. He swallowed thickly and tried to keep in step with Bucky, doing a decent job of it considering that he didn't have any practice with this sort of thing. 

They made their way past the building and further into camp, staying close to the building's entrances just in case, Tony assumed, someone appeared in the large space that made up the walkways of the camp. There were signs of the chopper's passing fire as they crept along, bullets dinging the unkempt road and some of the building's rooftops. They were getting to the thick of things, a smattering of corpses visible ahead of them. Tony couldn't make out how many bodies there were or even hope to identify who they could be, they were so riddled with holes. 

They spotted Melissa right as there was a loud shot and she crumpled, her head jerking and her blonde hair staining with red. Tony's eyes went wide and his throat clamped up. He probably would have stood there for a minute, looking on in horror, but Bucky pulled him to the side, hiding around the side of the building. He didn't stop there though, continuing to pull Tony along the length of the building, walking much faster than they had been doing the rest of the time. 

Tony's heart was thundering in his ears. The world around him was buzzing in a way that had nothing to do with the bugs populating the forest, and he didn't even notice when they started running. He clued back into the world around him when the camp was no longer in sight and it was just trees around them. "I'm okay," he said, pulling his hand from Bucky's so they could run better. 

Bucky nodded, and they kept running. Tony was in shape, but he wasn't a goddamn sprinter. He went for as long as he thought he could, then a little bit longer. Bucky kept an eye on Tony the entire time, and when he saw that Tony reached him limit, he slowed down, and soon enough they were stopped. 

"Sorry," Tony gasped, resting his hands on top of his head to keep his lungs open. "Give me- a minute and we can keep going." 

Bucky shook his head, glancing up at the sky which, Tony now noticed, was turning a sunset orange. "It's gonna be night soon, and we're not gonna make much progress in the dark. We're as safe as we're goin' to get f'r the day, we might as well find a spot t' rest." 

Tony meant to say 'okay' but all that came out was a slightly different pitched breath; he nodded. 

Bucky unclipped his bag and swung it around the his front, pulling out a canteen and taking a long drink before handing it to Tony. "Sips," he said. 

Tony nodded again. The first sip tasted heavenly-- if muddy tasting-- and while part of him wanted to guzzle it down, the part of him that couldn't hold its breath for three seconds prevented him from going for it. He handed it back a minute later, and Bucky stuffed it in his bag before refastening it. 

He jerked his head forward. "We'll find a spot for the night, and then we c'n rest." 

"Okay." 

Bucky started walking, and Tony did his best to keep pace beside him. They were walking quickly, but it was a far cry from the running that they'd been doing earlier. Even so, his legs were aching, and he found himself stumbling over nothing but his own feet. 

The second time he tripped, Bucky said they could rest there for the night. "I know there are more important things t' worry about," Bucky said, dropping his bag on the ground and helping Tony with his, "but do you still have my gun? That was my favorite." 

Tony frowned, glancing at his hand where he last remembered it being. "Oh." At some point, he'd tucked it into the waistband of his pants, so he grabbed the weapon and handed it over. 

"You okay?" Bucky asked, both his expression and his voice dripping concern. 

Tony smiled weakly. "They're probably here for me," he found himself saying. He hadn't meant to, but that was the most likely cause. 

"What makes ya say that?" 

"The entire place happens to get shot to hell the same day that I show up?" 

"It could be a coincidence. It's not likely," Bucky said with a crooked smile, “but it's possible." 

"What else could it be?" 

"We were movin' the artifacts today; they only missed it by an hour. Or it could me an' my team," he mused, sitting on the ground. Tony all-but collapsed. 

"Are security teams always being targeted? Maybe I should give mine a raise." 

Bucky gave a bark of laughter. "Yeah, we're not... always security." 

Tony blinked once, twice, then he understood. "You're a mercenary." 

"Yep. Does that bother you?" 

Tony stared at him for a minute, then shrugged. "It doesn't matter what I think." 

"Doesn't it?" 

"You're getting paid, all the same." 

"I'da thought you cared who that money was going to." 

"Why are you picking a fight?" Tony asked tiredly, and Bucky blinked, taken aback before smiling sheepishly. 

"Sorry doll. Habit. People find out I'm a mercenary, and all of a sudden I'm a criminal instead of someone who signs a contract and does the job jus' like anyone else." 

"And you expected me to do that." 

Bucky just kept smiling, but there was something soft in his gaze that Tony didn't want to- no,  _ couldn't _ think about. It was one thing to flirt and maybe plan to hook up, but that look... no. He couldn't go there right now. Fuck South America and its matchmaking, he was going to get out of this continent with his heart intact, both physically and emotionally. 

Bucky pulled out two protein bars and tossed one to Tony. He opened it up and started eating, raising an eyebrow at Tony when he didn't do the same. 

"I'm not hungry," he said, thinking about the gunshots, the bodies, the way Melissa had dropped to the ground like a puppet with cut strings. 

"If ya don't eat, you'll be 'not hungry' cause you're dead." 

Tony rolled his eyes at the exaggeration, but opened the bar and took a bite of the bar that tried to cover the taste of protein with peanut butter and didn't do a very good job of it. "Happy?" 

"I will be once ya eat th' whole thing." 

Tony ate it slowly, partially because of the taste and his lack of appetite, but also because his body still hadn't quite settled from the running and he worried that if he ate it too quickly, he would make himself sick. He pulled out a water bottle of his own, seeing Bucky nod absently when he saw it. 

Bucky took a pull from his own and licked his lips. "So. I've got good news an' bad news." 

"Worse than people trying to kill us and murdering a bunch of students?" 

"No." 

"Then I don't care." 

Bucky chuckled. "The good news is, I have a tent in my bag." He kicked the large pack with the side of his foot. "The bad news is, it's a single. Norm'lly I'd call that a good thing with someone as pretty as you, but I'm guessin' you're not in the mood for that sorta thing." 

"You're full of shit Bucky. You're not in the mood for it either." 

Bucky looked at him for a long moment, serious. "Yeah," he said quietly, "guess I'm not." He shook off whatever he'd been thinking about, and got to his knees, pulling all sorts of things from his bag to get at the tent. "Even if sleepin' outside didn't end with ya gettin' eatin' alive by bugs, sleepin' together is safer." 

Tony couldn't help it-- he giggled. "I know you're right, it's just- this sounds like the beginning to a really bad porno. There's only space for one person but we're both going in, and oh, we shouldn't be fully dressed because we only have one set of clothes and we don't want to get them dirty, do we?" 

"Well now that ya mention it..." Bucky said, hooking a thumb in the front of his jeans and winking. "It sounds like I'm jokin', but do ya really wanna sleep in the clothes you were runnin' in?" 

"Guess not," he agreed. 

He tried to help Bucky set up the tent, but when it became clear that he had no idea what he was doing having never set up a tent before and this one not having instructions since Bucky didn't need them, he sat to the side and made comments like how great Bucky's ass looked when he bent over. For a moment, he felt ashamed for making light of such a serious situation, but... he knew that neither of them were actually over it, and this was just a way of coping. It made him feel like a liar for his earlier comment about how neither of them were in the mood for it though. 

It wasn't quite dark by the time he finished, but he motioned for Tony to get inside anyways. Sunrise was going to be early, and presumably they wanted to be moving by the time the sky was lighting. "After you sweetheart," Bucky said, holding the little tent's flap open. 

"If you wanted to check out my ass, all you had to do was ask." 

"Do you ever turn that off?" 

"Not if I can help it." 

"Well how about you get a good look now and then you get in first since you're bigger." 

Bucky hummed. "Tempting," he said, but it was clear that he thought Tony was only joking. He started stripping, carefully folding his clothes and tucking his various weapons between the cloth. Once he was down to boxer briefs, he crawled inside the tent and threw an arm over his eyes to give Tony some privacy while he got ready for the night. 

Tony worked quickly, feeling more exposed than he would have if Bucky had been looking and talking to him. He crawled in alongside him and zipped the tent closed before laying down. 

Bucky shifted away to give him some space, and Tony hesitated for only a moment before snuggling closer. It wasn't a sexual thing-- not mostly, at least-- and he just about purred when Bucky wrapped an arm around him to show that he was welcome to stay where he was. 

"Have you ever been on an assignment like this before?" 

"Security detail? Yeah. Where it turns into a complete shit storm and people die? Also yes, unfortunately." 

"Worse than this?" 

"I'd say so. But," he added ruefully, "I also don't know the full list of casualties." 

"'Full list of casualties'," Tony repeated. "You make it sound like they aren't people." 

"'Course they're people. When we get back I'll talk to their families and make sure they're okay, same as you're plannin' I'm sure. But for the moment, it's only gonna give ya trouble." His hand started to stroke Tony's lower back, sending tingles up his spine and down to his toes; he was pretty sure that Bucky didn't realize he was doing it. "Really doll. Don't think about it for a few days 'til we get this figured out, and then you c'n obsess over it all ya like." 

"Is that what you do?" 

Bucky's shoulders moved in a small, adapted version of a shrug. "Sometimes. I've seen a lotta people die, Tony. I can't think about all of them all the time, and neither should you." 

"They deserve to be remembered," Tony said quietly. 

"And they will be," Bucky said simply. "That doesn't mean it's on you to get nightmares about it." 

Tony didn't say anything, his silence meaning that he agreed with Bucky, if begrudgingly. "Did you know them? All of the students, I mean." 

"Yeah. Hard to work here for six months and not know everyone. The site's expanded since you've been gone, but not that much. When were you here anyways?" 

Tony gave a shrug of his own, shifting to get more comfortable. Both of their skin was sweaty and sticky in the not-fun way, but after a little moving around he found the right position. "A few years back," he said vaguely. "I don't really like to think about it." 

"You didn't have fun?" 

"There were... parts that were nice. It didn't end well though. Sort of ruined the whole memory." 

Bucky nodded, pressing an absent kiss to the top of Tony's head. "Cap used to be an archaeologist for this dig. He's a teacher now, but he helps me out ever' so often." He laughed quietly. "He's gonna kill me for dragging him into this." 

"Nah, he'll just be happy you're alive." 

"After he gets over it though..." 

Tony snorted. "He sounds like a fun guy." 

"Yeah. You'll get to meet him soon." 

"Ooo meeting the family? We haven't even been on a date yet." 

"I can't believe you accused me of never turnin' off the flirtin' when ya talk like that," Bucky said, amused. 

Tony yawned, surprised at first, then feeling stupid at that surprise because he'd been running for however long today and combined with the emotional stress and all the traveling he did, it would have been strange if he hadn't been tired. "Do we have a plan? For tomorrow?" 

"We're heading to the river to get good ole Cap on the phone so he can pick us up." 

"Who is he? You said he's a... teacher usually?" 

"Yeah. Best friend and second in command on this op. We were in the military together y'know, so it's not like he's clueless." 

"Good to know."

"Yeah," Bucky said, the smile clear in his voice. "He's pretty great; you'll like him. All blond hair and blue eyes, maybe you'll even like 'im more'n you like me." 

"I don't like blond guys, but thanks," Tony said with a snort, thinking of the last blond haired-blue eyed guy he'd given more than a passing glance. "And who says I want to trade you in? I haven't even taken you out for a test run yet." 

"At the rate you're goin', you're never gonna get to test me out." 

"Well I was supposed to have a few days of walking around the camp with nothing better to do than hook up with a hot mercenary." 

"And now you have somethin' better to do?" 

"I don't know, sleep maybe?" Tony said, but he was smiling, and despite the exhaustion of most parts of his body, his mind and libido were more than willing for a romp in the sack. He propped himself up on one elbow so that he was facing Bucky instead of just laying on top of him. 

"Aw but sweet thing you can sleep anytime. I'm a limited time attraction." 

"Are you open for business?" 

"For you doll? Absolutely." As Bucky said it, his eyes were roving over Tony's face, eyes dark with an unmistakable desire. 

Tony didn't bother saying anything else, just closed the last few inches between the two of them and kissed him. Bucky's lips were dry but soft, and Tony had a suspicion that that was only because they'd been running for half the day. He made a noise, and Bucky opened his mouth breathlessly, nipping at Tony's bottom lip. 

Neither of them were much in the mood for foreplay, what with the tiring day and the fact that both of them were in their underwear and nothing else. Their skin was sweaty and sticky in a not entirely pleasant way, but honestly Tony couldn't care less about that. What he wanted to know was how the hell Bucky was doing that with his tongue and where the fuck he learned it because oh god... 

Bucky was all consuming, a fire that was surrounding him, covering his entire front and sending it down his throat and into his stomach with every curve of his tongue and the way he held him. He had one hand on Tony's barely covered ass, and the other on the back of his head, not forcing him in place but helping him keep track of where Tony was. 

Bucky was hard and thick under Tony, and he pulled back for a moment, resting their foreheads together to give Bucky a chance to tell him that he didn't want to do anything else. He rolled his hips down once, then paused, waiting to see if Bucky was going to stop him, but he just moaned and pushed his hips up against Tony's before claiming his mouth again, messier than before but neither of them minded. 

They moved against each other, trying to find a rhythm in their cramped space, but ultimately they just ended up rutting against each other like teenagers in a car. The fact was though, that neither of them were young enough to come like that. With a slightly frustrated groan, Bucky shoved the front of his boxers down before reaching inside Tony's and taking both of them in his large hand and stroking. 

Tony whined in a way that would embarrass him if he thought about it and shifted his weight. He moved his hands from Bucky's body to brace his elbows by Bucky's head and moved against him with more purpose, the roll of his hips a promise of what it would feel like when-- if-- Bucky got inside him later. The new position made it easier for Bucky as well, and he worked his hand hard and fast, sweat a poor substitute for lube but they were both so close to the edge that it didn't matter. 

He twisted his wrist on the upstroke near the head of their cocks and Tony could feel his orgasm pooling in his groin. Bucky pressed wet kisses to his neck, and it sent Tony over the edge. His body tensed and filled with pleasure as he came thick stripes over Bucky's hand and onto his stomach. 

"Oh god Tony yeah, jus' like that baby," Bucky was saying breathlessly, still working his hand quickly until he was arching up into Tony's body and biting his lip to keep from screaming. 

Tony was shaky above him, trying to keep his weight off of him but having nowhere to go. The pleasure from their orgasms was quick to fade with the uncomfortable conditions, the air humid and on the wrong side of too warm, and their come a sticky mess between them that they had to find a way to clean. 

All that said, they were both more relaxed. Tony felt like he could actually fall asleep now, and Bucky seemed less likely to murder the next person he saw-- Tony hadn't even noticed the extent of his tension until it eased. 

"Alright sweet thing, get up a sec," he slurred, patting Tony's behind. Tony got out of the way best he could, and Bucky unzipped the tent enough to grab a handful of the large leaves that populated the trees here. He wiped Tony up first, getting him as clean as the leaves allowed, which wasn't much but was better than nothing. He tossed the come-covered leaves outside and then zipped the tent back up. Getting back into place made them both very aware of the pointy parts of their bodies, but they managed it in the end, Tony's head back on his chest and Bucky's arm around him. The tent smelled like sex and sweat, and it wasn’t exactly the potpourri Tony was used to but he was too tired for it to matter. "Get some sleep honey."


	2. Chapter 2

It felt like he'd just barely fallen asleep when his heated pillow started moving. Tony groaned and glared through a slit in his eye.

"Sorry babe but we've got t' get movin'," Bucky whispered, mindful of his sleepy state.

Tony groaned again, closing his eye and knocking his head against Bucky's shoulder. Bucky rubbed at the space between his shoulder blades, and Tony had to wiggle to get him to stop, knowing that it wouldn't take much to get him back to a dead sleep.

Bucky kissed his head, propping himself-- and thereby Tony-- up. "C'mon sweetness."

Tony was technically awake for the process of putting his clothes back on and breaking down the tent, but it was a memory like he'd dreamed it ten minutes later. The sky was still dark, but there were enough traces of light from the coming sunrise that they could start stumbling their way through the forest. Rather Tony was stumbling and Bucky was catching him before he could fall over. That was another reason to hate South America: he kept falling for no reason. He’d tripped more often in the last day than he had the ten years preceding it.

The first intelligible thing Tony said was, "If mosquitoes weren't propping up the ecosystem I would have them all exterminated."

Bucky snorted in amusement. "Maybe ya should look into a replacement for them. That would be a pretty good legacy, dontcha think?"

They continued to talk about suitable mosquito replacements for most of the morning, gleaning insights into the other person's past because of the detours their conversation occasionally took. For example, Tony learned that while Bucky was a mercenary, he had a heart of gold and the bank account to match, not that he touched most of it what with room and board being a deal given by most contracts. Meanwhile Bucky learned about Pepper and DUM-E and Tony's growing attempts to get his life in order, both personally and professionally.

They were getting close to the river when the sun was a couple hours from being at its full height. How did Tony know they were close? Because there was the sound of a large boat roaring in the distance, and given the way Bucky immediately went on alert, it wasn't help. He prowled to a nearby grouping of trees and pressed the Desert Eagle into Tony's hand again. "I'm gonna go to the coast and see if I c'n reach my team. You see someone that isn't me, you get ready t' shoot 'em. Take a second to make sure they're not a civilian though, 'kay doll?" he added with a little smile.

"Okay," Tony said, taking the gun and trying to smile back. He glanced towards where the sound was coming from. "Shouldn't I come with you?"

"No one on my team has a boat, and whoever shot up the camp was prepared. I'm not takin' a risk with your life, and the best way to keep ya outta any possible fire is if they don't know you're here."

"What if they are your team though?"

"Then I turn around and come get ya." When Tony continued to look worried, Bucky kissed him, softly and full of promise. He cupped Tony's cheek and stroked his cheekbone with his thumb when he pulled away. "I'm not leavin' ya. No matter what happens, I'll come back for ya, I promise." He kissed Tony again, and Tony leaned into it.

When he walked away, Tony watched him go until he was completely out of sight. He chewed his lip as his thoughts ran rampant. What if Bucky didn't come back? What if Bucky came back but it turned out that he was one of them? He glared at the forest for that one, because that was just... no.

He hated South America.

God what was he doing here? When Pepper had suggested this trip as a vacation, he knew it wouldn't pan out, but he'd thought that his thoughts would be filled with unwelcome memories from ten years ago, an incompetent team, and a veritable army of bugs. Only the last one-- and part of the first one-- turned out to be true, so that was nice. Except for the part where the team just got fucking murdered instead. The sound of the engine on the boat roared as it got closer, then ebbed as it passed but he didn't think about it other than noting that it happened in the back of his mind.

He was also sure that when Pepper suggested a hot hookup, she didn't mean a mercenary that was turning out to not be a fling. Bucky wasn't acting like it was a fling at least, and Tony was finding himself wanting to continue their relationship when they got out of this mess. Bucky was still flirting with him like he'd been doing before they slept together, but maybe that was because they were all alone in a South American forest with no immediate way out and he didn't want to make an enemy unnecessarily.

His thoughts started to spiral until even he could recognize that he was being ridiculous. He managed to get ideas of weird triple crosses and Bucky being hired to assassinate him out of his head by the time he saw a figure approaching, and even though they had a murder strut going on, it quickly became apparent that it was Bucky and no one else.

"I take it we can't expect help," Tony said when he got within normal speaking distance.

Bucky's jaw clenched and unclenched. "Not for a while."

"Everyone okay?" he asked, trusting that Bucky would understand which 'everyone' he meant.

"No," he said shortly, then took a breath. "Sorry. We lost some people, don't know who yet. Cap's got his hands full at the moment and can't pick us up."

"So what are we doing?"

Bucky took another deep breath. "Heading for town. It's close t' the river, so we're gonna follow it down."

Tony waited a moment for him to elaborate on what happened back at the river, but he didn't say anything. "Who was on the boat?"

"Nothin' you need t' worry about," Bucky said, starting to walk and obviously expecting Tony to follow, but he stood his ground this time.

"If you keep treating me like an object instead of a person we're going to have a problem."

Bucky froze, turning around to glance at Tony. "Is that always how I treat you?" he asked slowly.

"You didn't last night," he said, guessing that that's the part Bucky was most worried about. "And you don't most of the time, but right now you're acting like this is an action movie and I'm your arm candy." Tony swallowed before admitting, "I get that I'm in the way."

"You're not in the way," Bucky protested immediately which, while a lie, made him feel better.

"I get that I'm in the way," Tony repeated firmly, "and that you would be better off if you were here by yourself, and that you're the one with all the experience here, but I don't want to be pushed to the side like-"

"Like arm candy," Bucky supplied. "Fuck."  

"You don't- you don't have to tell me everything, but don't brush me off like that."

He scrubbed a hand over his face and moved closer to him. "Okay. The boat? Not friends-- at least not anymore."

"Traitors."

"One of 'em is," Bucky growled, eyes flashing dangerously. "He wants you alive though, so- if he catches ya, maybe don't fight back. He'll make your Pepper pay through the nose to get ya back, but you will get back."

"Right," Tony said drily, "and I'll just sit there all pretty while he shoots you in the head? Fuck that Bucky. I know you want to keep me safe, but I'm not going to do that."

Bucky huffed out a laugh. "Good t' know. I'll uh, try to be better about the action-girl thing."

"That's all I needed to hear." Tony smiled and pat him on the arm. "So which way is the town?"

* * *

They couldn't risk a fire, and between the rations Bucky had and the ones Tony packed, lunch was an unpleasant if nutritious affair. Tony had a water filter, Bucky found out, and he gleefully made Tony drink his entire bottle when they ate before going to the river to refill it.

They were only walking for an hour when Tony had to stop to use the bathroom, glaring at Bucky as he walked behind a tree for some privacy because this was definitely his fault and not just a normal body function that would have happened anyways.

"You're cute when you're angry!" Bucky called jokingly.

Tony rolled his eyes and unzipped his pants. He was no stranger to talking to someone through the bathroom door, but this felt different for reasons he felt were quite obvious. "That's easy for you to say."

"Is it?"

"You're not the one trying to take a piss, so yes and shut up!"

Bucky laughed, and Tony shook his head. He was so comfortable around him it felt like they'd known each other for a lot longer than twenty hours.

* * *

"Ugh I feel disgusting."

"Ya look as pretty as ever," Bucky said with a wink.

Tony snorted, not believing him. He was covered in sweat, bug spray, and far too many bug bites for the amount of bug spray he was wearing.

"Whatcha scoffin' at, you are."

"Yeah this is how I show up to GQ photo shoots."

Bucky looped an arm around his waist and pulled him close. "Ya want me to make you feel like a million bucks?"

"A million isn't very much."

"Is that a no?" he said, raising an eyebrow.

"No, no don't let me stop you."

Bucky kissed him, slow and sweet like Tony had learned was his preference. "Weird question, but you don't have any STD's right?"

"Nope."

"Good." And with that, Bucky dropped to his knees, undoing the fly on Tony's pants and swallowing him down.

Tony could now verify that Bucky was as good with his tongue in Tony's mouth as he was with it on his dick. He had every intention of returning the favor, only by the time he came back to himself, Bucky had already finished, his come a mess over his hand. (If he'd hoped that more sex would answer his question about the state of their relationship, he was wrong.)

Bucky was still kneeling on the ground trying to catch his breath, but he was smiling sweetly up at Tony when he looked.

"Jesus christ," Tony breathed, petting a hand through Bucky's hair. "You're incredible."

"You're not too bad yourself doll." He got to his feet, one hand dirty and held away from him, and the other holding up his pants. "What d'ya say we clean up in the river?"

"I say great idea, lead the way."

In his defense, he'd really thought it was a good idea, but Bucky was... god Bucky was built. Tony had seen him half naked the previous night, but he hadn't had the time to truly look and admire him what with everything else that had been going on. Even when he'd been rubbing up against him, he'd been more focused on his cock and his mouth than everything else about him, but now Bucky was in the river washing off, and all Tony could do was enjoy the view. Tony was past the age where he thought shower sex was the pinnacle of all things sexy, but Bucky in that moment was making him reevaluate. It's not even like he was putting on a show, he was just washing off, but rubbing his hands together made the muscles in arms and back flex. If Tony were a younger man, he would have been getting hard again. Since he wasn't though, he just watched as Bucky ducked his head under the water and brushed wet strands out of his face. He realized that he was a lot in lust and a little in... something else by the time Bucky was getting out of the water.

He'd been so busy watching that he hadn't gotten in, so he stumbled into the water, making a face as his feet squished into mud and something that was probably just a clump of leaves but felt much more sinister. He dunked his head and rubbed at his stomach where the come from the night before had crusted over, then climbed out. He slipped, but Bucky was there to catch him before he fell face first-- again. He mumbled out a thanks and tried to pretend he wasn't blushing. Bucky had just blown him, what was there to be getting embarrassed about? He tried to convince himself it was senseless, but the blush remained.

* * *

They stopped to eat a couple hours before they set up camp for the night, and Bucky handed Tony the same gun that he'd been handing him.

Tony frowned, not taking it and looking at him in confusion. "Are you going somewhere?" he asked, because before now, Bucky only handed it to him when he thought there would be an immediate danger or if he was leaving, and he wasn't acting like he'd heard something, so Tony was just confused.

"No, but I want you t' hang onto this. I can't stop every time there might be somethin' around the corner to hand you a gun, so just keep it on ya."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Okay," Tony said with a shrug, checking the number of bullets and that the safety was on before he tucked it into the front of his pants. The metal was still warm from where it had been pressed into Bucky's skin, and a minute later Tony forgot that it was there.

* * *

Tony was able to help set up the tent this time, having an idea how it worked from watching Bucky do it yesterday.

Bucky got in the tent first since he was bigger, stretching out and helping Tony lay down with open arms. "We should reach the town by tomorrow night."

"Okay." Tony yawned widely, snuggling up to Bucky.

He was pretty sure he'd never slept so well since his parents died, not in New York, not in his California King, and certainly not when he was drinking himself into a stupor just to get his mind to stop long enough for him to get any rest.

The rest of the day was fucking miserable, but when his thighs hurt so bad that he thought he wouldn't be able to take another step uphill, he thought of how well he'd slept, how Bucky had held him close and kissed his hair without trying to take it any further, and he was able to keep going.

"Why'd you come down here?" Bucky asked when they stopped for a short breather. "Personally, I mean. Don't people as rich as you have people for that?"

"Pepper- do you remember me tell you about her?"

"Redheaded secretary that said ya should come down here and hookup with a hot archaeologist?"

Tony gave a short laugh. "Yeah, her. Well us hooking up wasn't the main reason she wanted me down here. She said I've been working too hard the past couple months, and she wouldn't let me continue funding without someone checking out the site, so." Tony gestured as if to say 'here I am'.

* * *

They didn't make it to the town like they planned because the sky decided that now was a perfect time to open wide and dump fat raindrops on them.

"Shit," Bucky said, and Tony helped him set up the tent quickly. They couldn't leave anything outside without it getting soaked, so their bags were in the tent with them. If it had been cramped before, it was nothing compared to now. Before, Tony could have laid next to Bucky if he _really_ wanted, he just would have been pressed to him from shoulder to foot-- his foot at least, since Bucky had a solid four inches on him. Now though, Tony had to lay on top of him for everything to fit, and he would be lying if he said that bothered him. The sound of rain pattering the canvas above him was soothing in a way, although the storm did have the unfortunate side effect of making the air extra thick and humid.

Sex wasn't the last thing from his mind though, and with their extra time before they reached the town, they got each other off again. The other night had been cramped, but this reminded him of college, when people had shut themselves in broom closets and then gotten caught with their pants around their thighs. The good news was that clean up was easy with the rain, and he was so relaxed afterwards that he was able to drift off easily.

* * *

Tony jolted awake, a burst of red in his vision and the sound of a gunshot in his ears. A noise escaped him involuntarily, and something stirred beneath him. He blinked, red fading away to black, and the sound that he'd thought was a gunshot was now recognizable as thunder.

"T'ny?" Bucky mumbled, still mostly asleep. "Y' hurt?"

"No." He was shaking, but he wasn't hurt. He squeezed his eyes shut and failed to will his body to still. "I'm fine. Go back to sleep." His vision was adjusting to the dark already, and he could make out Bucky blinking at him before rubbing at his eyes.

"You're shakin'. C'mon honey." He rubbed his hand up and down Tony's back until he relaxed. They both lost track of time, listening to the patter of the rain. It hadn't let up at all while they'd been sleeping, but Bucky had said that he thought it would stop by morning. "You scared'a thunder?" he asked when Tony shivered at a distant roll of thunder.

"No," Tony denied, burying his nose in Bucky's neck. He smelled a little bad, admittedly, but it was mostly comforting.

"Wha's wrong sweetheart?"

Tony swallowed, remembering how they'd sat behind that tree and listened to people die. God, he'd- he'd held Bucky back and told him that he couldn't help anyone, but what if he'd been wrong? What if Bucky would have been fine? What if he could have saved someone? Would Melissa still be alive? Would her friend Johnny? "I was self destructing," he said quietly. "My parents died, and I'm a grown ass adult who couldn't deal with it. They've been sending me letters for months asking me to give them more funding, and I didn't because I was drunk." _There are people who are dead because I was too busy drinking_.

"This isn't your fault," Bucky said, sounding more awake than before.

"Isn't it?"

"Tony... this isn't a coincidence. That you're here when we were attacked."

"You said earlier though-" Tony cut himself off as it occurred to him; something had to have changed since they last talked about this. "What happened at the river?"

"Don't worry about it," Bucky said, then paused and huffed out a laugh. "Right. You're not arm candy. It was-" he took a deep breath "-someone that used to be on my team. He betrayed us, working f'r someone else, don't know who yet. I told you they wanted ta ransom you to your friend Pepper, but that was the goal, not a bonus."

Tony swallowed thickly, squeezing his eyes shut. "She shouldn't have to deal with that."

Bucky rubbed his back comfortingly. "They aren't gonna say anythin' to her without knowin' where you are. All the danger, none of the benefits."

Tony hummed shortly, not sounding like he was comforted.

It was still raining.

"I'm sorry I woke you up."

"Nothin' to apologize for sugar. You can wake me up anytime."

* * *

Neither of them moved when they first woke up. It didn't sound like it was raining anymore, but the air was still hot and thick like they were in a sauna instead of a forest-- although jungle was probably a more accurate description now that Tony thought about it. "What are you going to do when you find them?" Tony asked, voice a lull with the sounds of nature.

"I would think ya don't want t' hear the gory details."

"You're going to kill them?"

"I can't let people who hurt me and mine walk away." He glanced at Tony. "Does that bother you?"

Tony's immediate response was yes, of course it bothered him. They were talking about human lives here, not petals on a flower. "We could turn them in. Get a trial. They killed at least five people, we'd be able to get them put away for life."

"Nobody in this business is friendless Tony. I don't wanna find out who their friends are with a hole in my gut as I'm bleedin' out."

"You're sure that would happen?"

"I'm not gonna bet anyone's life on it."

"So you're going to kill them."

"Would it make ya feel better if I lied?"

"No."

"Good."

"Why 'good'?"

"Don't wanna lie to ya sugar. If it bothers ya, we just won't talk about it."

Tony thought about it as they started to hike for the day. They hadn’t been talking, so when he said, "I don't want details,” he worried for a moment that Bucky wouldn’t know what he was referencing.

That worry was unfounded because Bucky just said, "Wasn't plannin' on givin' you any, honey."

Tony nodded.

* * *

Bucky slowed down and raised a hand to show that Tony should do the same. He tread forward silently, and Tony did his best to stay quiet. He'd like to think that he wasn't lumbering around like a rhinoceros, but he was far from practiced at this. Either way, Bucky never commented on it.

He pulled out a gun, so Tony retrieved the one Bucky had insisted he keep ahold of, keeping his finger on the safety so he would be ready at a moment's notice.

Tony didn't know what they were creeping towards until he heard vehicles idling. Obviously not the village since Bucky would have just kept walking and sure as hell wouldn't have pulled out a piece. He got on his knees and crawled forward, heedless of the mud and water soaking into his pants. With a face, Tony did the same-- it wasn't a rich person thing no matter what  ~~Steve~~ people might have thought, Tony just couldn't stand the feel of mud-- ignoring his discomfort and laying down beside Bucky when he stopped to peer through leaves.

The first thing Tony noticed was how many people there were. Twenty men, all of them in black security outfits. Twenty men... not Bucky's team. Tony didn't know much about his team (read: nothing) but he knew that there weren't that many of them. The second thing he noticed was what they were outfitted with: automatic weapons. Tony had kind of been hoping that they only had the one minigun and that the rest of their weapons were legal, but apparently not.

There were a handful of tents and vehicles, one of them in the center of the makeshift camp. It had just pulled up as Bucky and Tony got close, and the men were now staring at someone who was yelling at him. Tony couldn't make out much from so far away, but he was obviously the one in charge, and he was not happy.

"I don't care what you're busy with!" the man was yelling. "You can burn down the entire fucking forest if you need to, but we have to find Stark!" The man speaking had a low gravelly voice that wouldn't be out of place on a Bond villain. If the danger had felt a little less real, Tony would have laughed. However the danger was very real, and despite Bucky's earlier assurances that they would want him alive for a ransom, Tony couldn't help his breath catching in panic.

Bucky touched his arm gently, and Tony jerked to look at him. He didn't know what he was expecting, but a face full of concern wasn't it. It wasn't enough to save him completely though, and Tony got sucked into his panic. He could feel his breathing get heavier and louder, and that just made him panic more because what if they heard, and he knew he should stop but he couldn't.

He was distantly aware of Bucky picking him up and dragging both of them away from the scene. "Hey sweetheart breathe with me okay? Breathe with me." Bucky set their foreheads together and took exaggerated breaths, waiting for Tony to sync up with him. It didn't take as long as it usually did to pull him out of a panic, and at first Tony wondered why but then he noticed that Bucky had put his hand over his heart. Where Tony's was quick as a rabbit, Bucky's heartbeat was smooth and steady under his palm. "You okay?" Bucky asked as he slowly pulled away, his face set in that same concerned expression he'd had on earlier.

Unable to answer verbally for the lingering-- and unfounded-- fear of being overheard, Tony nodded.

"I left my bag by the bushes. Do ya want to come with me, or do you wanna wait here?"

He definitely wanted to go with Bucky, but he wasn't entirely sure his legs would support his weight right now and he didn't want to embarrass himself by being unable to get to his feet when Bucky had been able of carrying Tony without shaking at all. He cleared his throat, not wanting his voice to come out all reedy. "I can wait here."

If Bucky judged him for his answer, he didn't give any indication of it, just nodded and leaned forward to press a kiss to Tony's forehead. "I'll be right back."

He was gone quickly, and Tony expected him back just as fast because they couldn't be that far away from where the other group had been. Twenty seconds passed and Tony thought that maybe he was just being paranoid. Another twenty seconds passed and Tony thought that maybe Bucky wanted a little time alone. Another ten seconds and Tony got to his feet. He was right that his legs wobbled when he got up, and he was embarrassed despite knowing that it was because of the nonstop hiking and not any personal failing on his part.

He stumbled the direction Bucky had left, his legs gaining strength as he walked. He frowned as he heard a struggle, picking up the pace until he was practically running, but a couple seconds later he froze at the sound of a gunshot and a shout of pain from Bucky. He pulled out the gun Bucky had given him, turned off the safety, and sprinted the rest of the way.

He didn't think of himself as being quiet on his feet, but he was quiet enough, apparently, that none of them heard his approach.

Bucky was kneeling on the ground, his gun several feet away in the mud looking like it had been stepped on. His left hand was hanging uselessly in front of him, and it took a moment for Tony to connect that with his right hand stemming blood flow from his shoulder.

There was a small group that was obviously from the team they'd seen below, one of them leaning over to get in Bucky's face, the others standing guard over Bucky like the threat he was. None of them were currently pointing a weapon at him though, and Tony knew an opportunity when he saw it.

The man getting in Bucky's face was sneering at him. "Where. Is. He." Three short words spoken lowly, and Tony recognized his voice as the one in charge. He felt a stab of guilt, realizing that he must have lost a chunk of time when he panicked for the man to get all the way up to where they were.

Bucky glared back evenly-- or as evenly as he could with a hole in his shoulder.

He fisted a hand in Bucky's hair and yanked his head back. "You can either tell me where you hid Stark and I put you out of your misery, or--"

Tony fired a shot and didn't pause to see him go down, turning on the other members of the group who were raising their weapons but not knowing where to aim. He got down another, but his shot went wide when the next person tripped over his friend's body, saving their own life for a few precious seconds until Bucky was stabbing him, knuckles white on the hilt of a wicked looking knife.

Tony stumbled past the trees towards Bucky, gun held tightly in one hand, the other going out towards him. "Oh my god," he breathed. "Are you okay?"

Bucky gave him a tight smile, looking a little pale. "Lil shot but otherwise good. You?"

"You're bleeding." Tony dropped to his knees beside Bucky and peeled off his shirt, tying a makeshift tourniquet.

"Did you jus'..." Bucky glanced at the bodies, then back at Tony, eyes wide. "Think I'm fallin' in love sweetheart." His eyelids fluttered. "Also think I'm losin' a little blood."

"Don't do that, you're fine." Tony grabbed his bag and pulled out the water, tipping it into Bucky's mouth slowly so he could sip it. "You're- you're fine."


	3. Chapter 3

Bucky had been pretty out of it because of the blood loss. He hadn't passed out, but Tony knew he wasn't firing on all cylinders. That was probably why, when Tony said he had to go grab something and didn't come back for another ten minutes-- during which Bucky would definitely have heard an explosion or three-- Bucky didn't question it. He just blinked blurrily at Tony and asked if he got what he needed.

Tony forced a laugh and tried to drag Bucky to his feet. He failed, but after that Bucky understood what he was going for and did it himself, only needed a little assistance from Tony.

"When did ya get a car?" Bucky asked, frowning as they trudged towards one of the vehicles he'd lifted.

"Just picked it up."

"Huh." He didn't say anything else, just clumsily climbed into the passenger seat when Tony held the door open for him.

If Tony ignored the ringing in his ears and the blood on his hands from the wound in Bucky's shoulder, it was almost like helping Rhodey into the car after he had too many drinks back at MIT. Tony knew that he should get in the other side and start driving. They were so close to the town-- a couple minutes in the car and they'd be there-- but he set a water bottle in Bucky's lap and rifled through his bag. He pulled out a bottle of ibuprofen and knocked two out into his hand.

Bucky peeked an eye open to peer at Tony. "Whatcha doin'?"

"Painkillers. Not much," he said, grabbing Bucky's hand and turning it over to put the pills in, "but I hope it's better than nothing."

He threw them back, chasing it with some water. "Thanks doll."

"You're not going to be thanking me in a minute."

"Oh?"

"A car ride through the jungle doesn't exactly scream smooth sailing."

Bucky shrugged, then grit his teeth. "I doubt a car's gonna be worse than m' own stupidity darlin'." He gave Tony a tight but genuine smile when he laughed.

Tony was right in that it only took them a couple minutes to get to the town, but it felt a lot longer than that when he knew that every jolt to the car sent a fresh wave of pain through Bucky and the only thing he had to try and feel better was pills people took when they had a headache.

The 'town' seemed to consist of three older couples, but they were nice enough and welcomed the pair of them to stay for as long as they needed. Or at least, that's what Tony thought they said; his Portuguese was a little rough. The buildings easily outnumbered the residents, and were made of a slate grey brick that reminded him of military barracks. They were the same style as the ones that made up the archaeology campsite, but Tony hid his discomfort at the similarity easily. He couldn't afford to be picky right now, and even if he could he didn't want to be rude to people that were being so helpful.

Palita offered to wash their clothes and run them a bath, Juraci had a bit of medical training and took a look at Bucky's shoulder, and Francisco set about making a meal for them-- all of this despite their protests that really, they didn't need anything except to pay for some gas and perhaps an extra bar of soap if they had it.

The room they were given had two beds, both lined with heavier blankets that-- it was explained-- were the only ones not currently in use. Bucky was stripped down to just a towel around his waist from the bath, already laying on the bed, although Tony doubted he was planning on sleeping that way. His mind had cleared a little while after Juraci had dug out the bullet and stitched him up, but he was still being careful with how he moved and how much he exerted himself.

"What's the plan?" Tony asked, fighting the urge to lock the door. It wasn't that he didn't trust Palita and the others, he just... was paranoid right now. There had to be others from the group than the ones Tony and Bucky had dealt with, and he didn't want to take any chances. With that line of reasoning in mind, he turned the lock. It wouldn't stand to a good kick, but it would at least provide a little resistance.

"I couldn't get anyone on the phone," Bucky admitted, looking understandably worried for his team. "But our best chance is t' get to the city. Stevie's not exactly discreet. Five minutes in the place an' if we don't find him, we'll sure as hell know where's been. Not the most solid plan," he acknowledged with an apologetic nod, "but it's all I've got for ya."

"Sounds good to me."

Bucky watched Tony for a minute, taking in the anxious way his eyes darted around the room and the tense set of his shoulders. "You okay sweetheart? You're fidgetin'."

"I always fidget," he said automatically. "You haven't known me for very long, this is just how I am."

Bucky looked at him evenly, and Tony deflated, running a hand through his somewhat clean hair. "I killed people back there," he admitted quietly. "And I don't even care because they hurt you. I'm supposed to care."

"It seems t' me like you care. You're worryin' about it instead of brushing it off."

"I'm worrying about the fact that I don't give a shit. I keep waiting for it to hit me, that I've killed people now, but it's not doing anything. I'm just upset with myself for not getting to you sooner because then you wouldn't be hurt."

"C'mere honey," Bucky said, extending his good hand out to Tony.

He took Bucky's hand without hesitating, letting himself be pulled onto the bed. He was still sitting where Bucky was laying down, but he appreciated the closeness it allowed anyways, with Bucky's stomach warming his thigh and their hands laced together.

"This may not help you Tony, but they weren't good people. They wanted t' hurt both'a us even though we didn't do anything t' them. It was either us, or them."

"There's never just two options. You say that it was either us or them, but there are more options than that; there always are."

"Okay," Bucky said easily, "then what're the options?"

"We could have left. Seen them and turned back around. We could have given up on getting back entirely and decided to just live in some unknown town."

"Until things blew over or f'r the rest of our lives?"

"Does it matter?" Tony didn't know if he wanted Bucky to ignore what he was hinting at or not.

Bucky squeezed his hand. "Don' think so."

Heat warmed Tony's cheeks, and he thought about the little bottle of oil he'd purchased from Francisco but refused to explain why he wanted it. But no, Bucky was injured and probably wouldn't want to do that anyways, even if they were alone in the building, the rest of the village sharing a single barracks. And if Tony had spent a little extra time in the bath making sure that he was clean _everywhere_ , well, he had an active imagination as well as a terrible sense of timing; it wouldn't surprise anyone that knew him that he'd done that.

Tony cleared his throat and leaned over to press a kiss to Bucky's lips. He wasn't expecting for Bucky to lean up into it like he wanted more, but he sure as hell wasn't going to protest. He slid his tongue in Bucky's mouth, moaning a little at how warm and inviting he was. Tony leaned into it further, low enough that it was easy for Bucky to slide his hand up Tony's arm and into his hair. God but Tony wanted to kiss him all over, wanted to touch every inch of that perfect body until he could describe it word for word. Bucky gave Tony's bottom lip a quick nip and he was about to straddle him and grind down suggestively until Bucky got the idea, but they were interrupted by a gentle knock on the door. Tony gave him a quick peck before standing up to answer it, grateful that while he was definitely interested it wasn't anything his pants couldn't hide.

"Señor? Your clothes," came Palita's voice from behind the door.

Tony unlocked it and opened the door a little, not really wanting to give her a full view of Bucky stretched out on the bed in all his glory. He'd never thought of himself as jealous, and maybe he wasn't, but he didn't want to share Bucky, especially right now when he was trying to think of the best way of suggesting that they go all the way-- or some other term that didn't make him sound like he was sixteen. 'Fucking' didn't seem quite right, and 'making love' was far too mushy ~~even if it was what he was thinking~~.

She handed their clean clothes over without her eyes wandering, and Tony thanked her profusely, to which she just smiled and waved him off, wishing him to have a good night and that if they needed anything, the rest of them would be in the building next door. He thanked her again and watched as she left before relocking the door and setting the folded clothes to the side.

He turned back around and saw a noticeable tent in the towel Bucky was wearing, not that it was possible to hide anything in a towel. He knew that Bucky was interested in him-- the shared orgasms in the past were hard to ignore-- but it was nice to see such an obvious sign of it, especially since he was about to suggest taking the next step. His heart gave a small lurch as his mind flashed to the last time he'd been in South America, ready and willing to hand his heart over. It was enough to make him hesitate, but Bucky smiled sweetly at him and just as easily his hesitation was gone.

His smile turned less sweet and more roguish as he trailed his hand down his bare chest to cup his growing erection. "Gonna help me out with this sweet thing?"

"I was planning on it, but it looks like you've got a hand on it."

That made Bucky start laughing, and while he was, Tony grabbed the oil from his bag and started stripping. "You're amazin' doll."

"I haven't even done anything yet," he said, setting the oil on the bed and pushing his pants down.

"Jus' means that when ya do, I'll love it."

Tony dropped his boxers to the ground and couldn't help but tease Bucky a bit. He nuzzled at Bucky's erection through the towel while stroking himself.

"Jesus honey," Bucky said reverently.

Tony hummed, nudging the towel a little to the side so he could kiss along Bucky's upper thigh. He took the little knot keeping it together in his teeth and pulled, tossing it to the side so he could get at the rest of him. Bucky's hip was a sharp cut along smooth skin, and Tony ran the flat of his teeth across it. He expected Bucky to put his hand in his hair then, but he didn't. He lowered his hand to Tony's cheek though, rubbing his thumb across his cheekbone-- dare he say it-- lovingly.

"Get up here sweet thing I wanna kiss ya."

Tony decided that was a wonderful reason to stop what he was doing, so he slithered up his body, not resisting when Bucky brought his hand down to Tony's ass and gripped him hard, pulling his hips down to meet his body as he thrust up.

They thrust together lazily for a minute, just enjoying the feel of each other as they kissed. "You wanna open the bottle of slick f'r me honey?"

Tony grabbed it, unscrewing the top and holding it steadily for Bucky to dip his fingers in. He reached between their bodies but Tony stopped him with a quiet, "Wait."

Bucky froze, but he frowned in confusion when Tony kissed along his cheek to his ear and down his neck. He took Bucky's wrist and guided his hand around behind him until Bucky's fingers were brushing against the cleft of his ass.

"I uh, cleaned up. A bit. Just in case."

"Just in case?" Bucky echoed. "Jesus christ sweet thing you're gonna kill me." He kissed Tony again, trying to pour everything he was feeling into it, but it still didn't feel like enough. "Are ya sure?"

How could he not be? With Bucky holding him like he was precious and kissing him like it was the most important thing in the world, with the way Tony felt about him, a rushing warmth in his chest that he couldn't ignore even if he wanted to? There was no question. "Yes."

"Okay Tony." He kissed him again, circling his rim with slick fingers to get his entrance to relax. He pressed the tip of one finger inside, and Tony was embarrassed at how loudly he moaned. He flushed afterwards, feeling a brief flash of worry that someone would hear them before he remembered that they were all alone here. No matter how loud he got, no one would burst in on them. It was a welcome change from the city, where even in the privacy of his own home it felt like he was being watched by vultures.

He came back to himself as Bucky slid his finger in further. Everything about Bucky was so wonderfully thick, including his fingers and his cock. Tony loved the first in him already, and he was sure that he'd love the second just as much if not more.

He didn't go all the way in before he added a second finger, slowly sliding them in and pausing every time Tony needed extra time to adjust. "It's okay Tony," he said, kissing Tony's neck which was conveniently in front of his mouth with Tony not quite aligned with his body so it was easier to stretch him. "You're doin' so great sweetheart. So great, you're so amazin'."

Tony didn't think he would feel amazing, the past couple days' grime not entirely washed off from their earlier bath. The water had been clean and warm, but the soap wasn't stellar, and they sure as hell hadn't had access to shampoo or body wash. He'd thought he was going to feel disgusting and smelly, but it was like that first time they'd been together, when all the bullshit fell aside and it was just the two of them and whatever they felt.

Three dangerous little words threatened to come out, and he choked them back, pressing his face into the flat pillow and arching his back.

"Tony," he breathed. Bucky turned his head to kiss his neck again. "Get me more slick sweet thing?" He took his fingers out so Tony could lean off the side of the bed and grab it from the floor where he'd set it.

He helped Bucky coat his fingers, spilling some down his wrist in his enthusiasm, but he didn't care because he didn't want to have to stop to do this more than he had to. Tony set the bottle down and climbed back on top of him, kissing him messily as Bucky put his hand back in place between Tony's legs. Tony was pressing back into his touch desperately, trying to get him to hurry because he knew that Bucky was taking his sweet time when he didn't have to be.

"Bucky- baby please."

Bucky groaned, but he didn't actually hurry the way Tony was hoping he would. He was pumping three fingers in and out of Tony, massaging his prostate every now and then to make sure Tony was enjoying himself-- though Tony thought his near-constant moaning should have been sign enough that he liked what was happening.

He took his fingers out, and Tony whimpered at the loss. Bucky shushed him, kissing his nose and cheek comfortingly. "It's okay honey."

"I am going to make you scream," Tony growled, eyes flashing as he pulled back to look Bucky in the eye.  

Bucky swallowed reflexively. Tony grabbed the oil from the floor and poured some in his hand, spreading it over his length quickly before positioning himself over it and sinking down. Bucky had his good hand on Tony's hip and the other resting on lightly on his calf. The head slid past Tony's rim and they both moaned.

Breathing heavily, Tony glanced down at Bucky. He was watching him rapturously, his chest as pink as his cheeks with a flush. _I did that to him_ , Tony thought, lightheaded. He slid down a little and watched as Bucky's head pressed further back into the pillow and he groaned.

Tony dropped one of his hands to lay on Bucky's as he slid the rest of the way down until he was seated. _God_. He'd felt full before, been with enough men that he knew what to expect every time, and Bucky wasn't the largest he'd taken, but he felt the best by far. Every inch of Tony was hot with desire, but it was more than physical. He wanted to take all of Bucky into him and show him how much he... god he had to get a grip before he started blurting out things that would make Bucky run.

He took a deep breath and ran his other hand up Bucky's chest, following it with his mouth when it got high enough that he could reach. He licked and kissed his way up his sternum to the hollow of his throat, and his tongue slid into the dip there perfectly; he did it again, just to have Bucky's hand tighten on his hip.

Tony made his way up to Bucky's lips, but he didn't kiss him. He rested their heads together so they were sharing breaths, an intimate moment between them that made Tony feel more exposed than the sex ever would. He rolled his hips, a tease at what was to come, but he didn't want to move away just yet. He did it again and again, expecting Bucky to react in some way, but all he did was hold Tony tight and move with him occasionally. "You're incredible," Tony whispered, kissing him hard and fast.

Bucky's mouth followed his when he pulled away to sit up, but Tony barely noticed, bracing his feet on the bed and thanking any gods that might be listening that the mattress was firm. He pulled up, then back down, slowly at first to get a feel for Bucky's length because there was nothing worse than riding someone and having their dick fall out because he thought they were bigger than they were.

He moaned loudly when Bucky's cock hit his prostate, sending little sparks up Tony's spine. He tried to do that again, but the angle wasn't quite right. He adjusted, leaning forward and pressing his hands into the bed on other side of Bucky's head and tried again, this time finding it with no problem.

He didn't waste anymore time, moving his hips with hard thrusts. Bucky started to move with him, and that threatened to make Tony boneless with pleasure, but he refused to be useless, riding Bucky with abandon and losing himself in sensation. He didn't know how long they were at it, just that the burn in his thighs from hiking had gotten so much worse, and that Bucky's grip on him had become less solid now that this fingers were slipping on sweat slick skin.

He wasn't aware of when Bucky started a litany of praises, but he tuned in when he felt a hot warmth pooling his stomach that made his fingers tingle. "Oh my god Tony- honey, that's so perfect, jus' like that oh my god Tony- _Tony_." He curled forward as he came thick spurts over Bucky's stomach, mouth dropping open. His arms were shaking as his hips continued to move in small motions reflexively, and his mind whited out-- he wouldn't have been able to recite the first forty digits of pi if his life depended on it.

Bucky was still thrusting up into him, but a minute later he froze, hips flush with Tony's ass.

If Bucky minded Tony collapsing on his chest, he didn't show it. He just pet Tony's back with his uninjured arm, and rested the other on the upper curve of his thigh.

It was a long while before either of them spoke, past the point when Bucky's dick got soft and slipped out of Tony, and far past the time when they normally would have cleaned up since they'd just gotten themselves as dirty as if the bath had never happened-- minus the mud.

"You love a fella like that sugar, and he's gonna think ya want him around."

Ton swallowed. "Who says I don't?"

Bucky took a deep breath, Tony moving with the motion since he was laying on top of him. "I need you to be serious Tony. Don't tell me ya want this if you're gonna change your mind when we reach a real city. I can't..." Bucky didn't say anything for so long that Tony thought he wasn't going to continue. "I can't take that from you sweetheart. I've got a life in Cali, and if I uproot it all for you and then ya move on in a month--"

"I won't," Tony cut in gently.

"I need you to be sure."

"I am."

Bucky took another breath. "New York huh? It's been a while since I lived there."

"You don't have to move," Tony hurried to say, nervous that Bucky was going to change his entire life only to realize that Tony wasn't half as 'incredible' or 'perfect' out in the real world. "We can try long distance for a while, just to make sure we work in places other than the goddamn jungle. I don't want you to uproot yourself for me." Well, he _did_ , but he didn’t want it to be something that Bucky would regret for even a second.

"Honey, I'm not offering anythin' I'm not perfectly willing t' give."

"Wh- what about your team?"

"It'll be easy enough t' move 'em over. Most of our business is over the phone; we don't 'xactly get people comin' up to the door." Bucky brushed the hair from Tony's face uselessly-- it always flopped back to where it had been, though he didn't seem to mind the futility of it.

Tony turned his face into Bucky's chest like he was hiding. "Why?" he said, the word mumbled because he was smushing his mouth against Bucky's skin.

"Well knockin' on a mercenary’s door jus' doesn't seem right."

"Why would you move to New York for me?"

Bucky paused. "You believe in soulmates honey?"

"I think that if they were to exist the odds of ever meeting them would be so exponentially out of range that it doesn't matter."

"Like the odds'a winning the lottery?"

"Take those odds and multiply it by about a thousand."

"Astronomical, huh?"

"Yeah."

"An' yet we met anyways."

Tony's heart skipped a beat. "Without a sampling of even the current population you couldn't accurately say that," he said, his mouth disconnected from the standstill his brain had taken.

"I know what I feel Tony," he said, quietly amused by Tony's automatic argument because he somehow knew that Tony was talking on autopilot and not necessarily because he disagreed with Bucky. "And it's not changin' in this lifetime."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to TheKitteh for helping me with this sex scene <3


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The call signs used are NotEvenCloseToStraight's creation

They were on the bumpy road to the city, but at least this was an actual road as opposed to the village pathway to the campsite which was mostly a trail that didn't have trees too close together. Bucky popped some more ibuprofen before they got in the car, slipped Palita and the others some money for everything they'd done, and gave Tony a kiss that made him weak in the knees. Of course Tony hadn't known how to respond other than a joke, so he'd bat Bucky's chest with his hand and said that he had to drive so Bucky shouldn't distract him.

They stopped for lunch and to stretch their legs, and when Tony got back from refilling their water in the river, he frowned to see Bucky in the driver's seat. "You're hurt," he stated.

"Yes, and?"

"You shouldn't be driving."

"Aw c'mon I'm goin' crazy just sittin' there."

"So you want me to go crazy? Get away from the wheel, Bucko."

"I c'n make it worth your time sweetheart."

"I'm not going to let an orgasm distract me from the fact that you should be resting as much as you can."

Bucky pouted, sticking out his bottom lip, and Tony laughed, giving him a quick kiss. "Just an hour?"

"Fine. But just one," Tony said, sticking up a finger so Bucky knew he wouldn't get away with trying to add more time. In all honesty, Tony was happy to have a break, his arms tired from keeping the same position for hours with no break. He stretched his arms out, feeling his shoulders pull tight when he raised his hands in the air. He let out a satisfied groan and lowered them again.

Bucky was positively gleeful as he started the car and took off down the road. Tony made a mental note to check his driving history before letting him in one of his cars-- he wouldn't stop him, he just wanted to know if a wreck was likely.

As it turned out, Bucky didn't even get his hour of driving before they had to stop, the shrill ringing of his satellite phone making them pull over. "Identify,” Bucky said into the radio.

"Charlie-Alpha-Papa, One-Seven-Seven-Six." Something about that voice seemed familiar to Tony, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

Bucky sighed in relief before replying, "One-Nine-Four-Four, Tango-Whiskey-Sierra. It's real fuckin' good t' hear your voice Steve."

Tony's heart stopped. Oh god no. Let it be a different Steve for the love of god please let that be a different Steve. But how many Steve's could there possibly be in the archaeology world? At this dig specifically?

"You too Bucky. No offense, but I wish you'd been here to deal with this shit instead of me."

Bucky laughed. "I'm not switchin' places with you for th' world, man. I'm perfectly happy where I am."

Jesus fucking christ on a burnt grilled cheese let this not be true. What were the chances? Numbers started rolling through his head, but it was pointless. He knew that voice.

"Does that mean you don't want a chopper?"

"Don't be an ass Steve."

Shit and Bucky had mentioned him before, but he'd always called him 'Stevie' and 'Cap' before now, how was he to know it was the same Steve?

"Shoot me a flare in a couple hours."

"Will do."

"Take care of yourself for a few hours Buck. Charlie-Alpha-Papa out."

Bucky turned to Tony with a smile. "Looks like we're gettin' home sooner rather than later. We'll have t' stay here while we wait, but that shouldn't be a problem."

Tony tried to smile back, but he couldn't get his face to cooperate. He just sat there looking sickly pale.

"Woah hey," Bucky said, smile falling quickly for a concerned expression, "what's wrong?"

He didn't say anything. If Steve and Bucky were friends to the extent that Bucky trusted him so implicitly with his team and the safety of others, then he had to know about that summer. And if he knew about that summer and the stupid romance between the two of them, then that meant there was no way he'd met Tony and actually felt anything for him. God he was such a fucking idiot sometimes he shouldn't leave the house. He hated South America and the romances he always thought would work out only it turned out the guy he'd fallen for was a complete and utter asshole.

His chest was tight with pain, and he wanted nothing more than to crawl into his soft bed at home and bundle up with enough blankets that he forgot he was alone.

"Tony--" Bucky started to reach for him, but he froze when Tony flinched back. Slowly, Bucky pulled his hand back. "Are you okay?"

"Your archaeology friend is Steve?"

"Yeah," Bucky said, thrown by the sudden question that, to him, had no place in the current conversation.

"Steve Rogers?" he asked, needing to make sure.

"Yeah, how'd ya know that?"

Tony sneered at him, still pale but trying to cover it up. Like hell was he going to show anymore weakness to him. "You said you didn't know that I'd been here before."

"I didn't. I don't know what's goin' on sweetheart, can ya--"

"Don't call me that!"

Bucky blinked, taken aback.

"Just shut up and wait for the chopper." Tony turned so that he didn't have to look at him anymore, and tried to keep hurt tears from falling from his eyes. God he was an idiot.

Bucky listened to him and didn't talk, but that left Tony with his thoughts and nothing else. It couldn't have been planned, that just wouldn't make sense. For Bucky to take a contract on something he was funding six months before he showed up? With no guarantee that anyone from Stark Industries would show up, let alone Tony himself? No, this wasn't planned. More like a happy coincidence, a way for Bucky to embarrass him at first, and then, when they got stranded in the jungle together, a way to get something extra before Tony found out what was happening.

And there was no recovering from this either, no way of pretending that he hadn't been half in love with the man because he'd all but said it. He'd been so desperate for him last night, and trying to pretend like he hadn't been would only humiliate him further. Tears welled up in his eyes because he'd- god he'd believed him. The talk about soulmates, all those times he said Tony was perfect and incredible, how easily he'd said he'd move to New York for him. He couldn't keep them in this time, and he jumped out of the car, racing towards the river for some privacy. They had a couple hours, him sobbing so hard he couldn't breathe for ten minutes would barely put a dent in the wait time.

His nose was running and he had a headache, but he felt minutely better for letting it out. He splashed water on his face and tried to clean up so it was less obvious what he had been doing. He took a minute to even out his breathing, rubbing at his face and straightening his clothes as if that would make any difference. He turned around then stopped cold. Bucky was leaning against one of the trees, and obviously had been for some time. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough t' know that your mood's taken a one eighty. You wanna talk about it?"

"No," he said shortly, embarrassment making him angry again.

"Are ya mad at me?"

"Gee I don't know Bucky, am I?"

Bucky ignored his tone and asked, "You wanna tell me why?"

"Like you don't know."

"I don't."

Why did he have to keep pretending to be innocent? Why couldn't he just admit that he'd taken Tony for a fool and it had worked? "Stop that."

"Stop what?"

"Pretending like you give a shit! You think I'm an asshole billionaire who doesn't have feelings, fine whatever, but own up to it!" He tried to storm past, but Bucky caught his arm, not letting go when Tony gave it a shake. "Let go."

"Either we talk here or we talk once you've gone back t' the car. Does it matter where?"

Tony wanted to hate Bucky for how even his tone was. Gritting his teeth, Tony stopped trying to get away. Bucky slowly let go of him, but didn't make any other move, either to get closer or further away.

"What's goin' on? Why do ya suddenly think I don't care about you?"

"Steve."

Bucky blinked, uncomprehending. "Okay," he said slowly, "what about Steve?"

"Ten years ago." Bucky still didn't look like he got it, so Tony added, "We were both working on the dig?"

"Okay," he said again. "So you were here working together. Did ya not like each other? He can be a bit of a dick sometimes, but not usually f'r months at a time."

For the first time, Tony started to think that maybe he was wrong. "Did he-" Tony swallowed "-did he not tell you about me?"

Bucky shook his head. "He never told me that he met Tony Stark."

"He may not have mentioned the 'Stark' part, but did he ever talk about a Tony?"

Tony could see the moment it clicked in Bucky's head. "Shit. You're Steve's Tony?"

"I'm not Steve's anything," he snarled, but far less angrily than before.

"But you're that Tony. The one he dated the summer before China."

"Yeah," Tony said, the familiar sting making itself known.

"Shit," Bucky repeated. "Shit he's gonna kill me."

"What? Why would he kill you?"

"Jesus christ Tony how could he not be angry? The guy was in love with ya and then all of a sudden ya weren't around."

"He wasn't in love with me," Tony protested. He wouldn't have left without a word if he had been. "He took off without a word and then called me like he expected everything to be fine."

"I don't know what happened b'tween the two'a you," Bucky said, holding up his hands in surrender. "All I know is that he was heartbroken afterwards."

Tony couldn't help it; he snorted. "I know he's your best friend and all, but he's a bastard to try and say that it's my fault."

"He never blamed it on you," Bucky said uncomfortably.

"Oh."

Bucky swallowed. "Let's get back t' the car."

"What happened to talking?" There was an anxious energy about Bucky, and Tony didn't understand it. He was heavy with embarrassment and guilt, and he wanted to fix it as much as he’d wanted to run away only minutes ago. "Ah, listen, I'm sorry. About the whole- thing back there," he said, gesturing to the area where he'd cried and then yelled at Bucky a bit. He still had that headache, but with the revelation that Bucky hadn't lied to him, it was pushed to the back of his mind. "I uh, assumed the worst about you and that wasn't fair. Things are just... weird where Steve's concerned."

"Don't worry about it," he said, giving Tony a sad half-smile. "I understand." With that, he left to start walking back to the vehicle. Tony trailed after him, feeling like something had just happened, though he didn't know what. It left him feeling off kilter, but Bucky dodged any attempts that Tony might have made to find out what was happening by leaning back in the chair and closing his eyes. "Wake me up if ya hear the chopper."

"Okay." Tony brought his legs up to his chest and rested his chin on his knees while they waited. He turned the conversation over in his head for a while before coming to the conclusion that everything was fine between them now that they'd talked it out. He started mentally going through some of his past designs to pass the time, but when that proved too boring, he started thinking up ways of teaching DUM-E how to successfully wield the fire extinguisher. He couldn't differentiate bright colors or quick movements from fire, which meant Tony was getting doused with suppression foam on the regular. Bucky would like DUM-E, he thought fondly.

It seemed like hardly any time passed before he could hear the helicopter coming, and he turned, ready to shake Bucky awake, only to find that he was already straightening, reaching into his bag to pull out the flare gun.

The chopper evened out above them, sending down a ladder and a group loaded to the brim with weapons. Some of them guarded the area while the others picked up their bags and helped them up. It was obvious that Bucky knew all of them, and he looked more at ease than he had in days. It was surreal how quickly it all happened. One minute Tony was sitting in the jungle feeling like he'd never get to normal civilization again, and the next he was in a copter hurtling towards the city and safety.

* * *

As soon as the chopper landed, there was a joyous shout of "Bucky!" and then someone was throwing themselves at him, arms trapping him in a bear hug.

Tony didn't even recognize that it was Steve until he pulled back, and even then it took a minute. His hair was still blond, but it was darker than it had been back when they knew each other, not to mention that he now had a beard covering the lower half of his face. He didn't spot Tony at first, still looking at Bucky.

He punched Bucky's arm-- thankfully the one that wasn't injured. "Don't you dare leave me in charge again, that's not what I signed up for. What the hell have you been doing for the last three days that you couldn't get here by yourself?"

"Well I got shot, does that count as an excuse?"

"You WHAT?"

"Relax Steve, Tony patched me up."

Tony looked at Bucky with wide eyes, surprised that he was drawing Steve's attention to him-- also because that was a lie, Juraci had given him the stitches, not Tony.

"Tony?" Steve asked, grip on Bucky going slack with shock.

He cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Hey Steve. Long time no see," he said, then cringed inwardly. Steve continued to stare at him for long enough that it was well past uneasy and verging into pure awkward territory. "Don't you two have things to talk about?" he suggested, waving between the two of them.

That didn't make Steve do a damn thing, but Bucky seemed to realize that nothing else was forthcoming, so he asked, "Why were ya outta contact?"

"Had to get new gear," Steve said, still staring at Tony. "We lost Jojo and Nick, but everyone else is fine."

"The students?"

"At the Embassy, they're safe."

"The ones that killed Nick an' Jojo?"

"Taken care of."

Bucky nodded. "Thanks Stevie." He pulled him into a tight hug.

Steve chuckled. "Guess you missed me more than I thought huh?"

Bucky made a noncommittal noise. "Happy to get some real painkillers," he said, but something about it struck Tony as a lie. He kept his mouth shut though, knowing that he wouldn't be able to say that and get anything close to a real answer.

"C'mon pal let's get you to the doctor. Uh," he hesitated, glancing at Tony with a laser sharp focus like he had a million and one things he wanted to say to him.

"I'll come along. I'm not hurt," he hurried to say, realizing how that could be taken. The truth was that he didn't want to leave Bucky, and that wasn't just because he didn't know any of the people here.

Steve looked to Bucky to see if he was okay with that, and Tony inexplicably found himself getting angry about it. Did he really think that Tony would demand to come along if Bucky didn't want him there? He opened his mouth to give Steve a piece of his mind, but Bucky did it first-- and it wasn't what Tony thought it would be.

"You can stay here Tony, it's fine."

Tony blinked, taken aback. "I- okay."

Bucky looked askance, like he was ashamed of himself. "'Sides th' EMT's are gonna look you over, so it's fine." As if on cue, a group came over, one pair grabbing Tony to make sure he was okay, and the other taking a look at Bucky's shoulder.

Steve's eyes followed Tony as he walked, dropping down briefly to check out his ass, though he turned back to Bucky a second later. "He trusts you. I guess that's what the jungle does to him huh?"

Bucky gave an even hum, raising his arm when the EMT's prodded him to do so.

"Did you-” Steve stopped and swallowed hard. “Do you know that he's... the Tony?"

"Found out a couple hours ago," he grunted.

Bucky was paying attention to the EMT's, so he didn't notice the way Steve stared at him, assessing. He glanced at Tony, then back to Bucky, dread settling in his stomach.

They changed the dressing and told him to keep it clean and if anything changed to find a doctor, and then they left. "Leave 'im alone for a bit Steve," he said when he caught Steve staring. "He's had a rough couple days. Let him get some sleep b'fore ya talk to 'im."

* * *

They were in a hotel. It wasn't the fanciest accommodations Tony'd ever had, and he'd thought that would make it easier to transition. But the bed was too soft and the sounds of cars going by sounded foreign. He hated it. How could it sound wrong when he'd spent most of his life listening to it? But oh no, a few nights sleeping in a tent in the jungle and he lost all of that sleeping history.

The shower was undoubtedly great. The bath in the village had been refreshing, but this felt like he was finally slipping back into himself, and he wasn't entirely sure he liked it. It was like, if he pretended, the last few days never happened. He wasn't wearing mud coated shoes, his hair was clean and soft, and the sweat and traces of come that he hadn't been able to wipe off from their night together were now gone.

The shower was great, the soap and shampoo were amazing, but the bed... he hated it. It was too comfortable-- never a problem he thought he would have, by the way. He couldn't get to sleep in it. He kept tossing and turning, expecting there to be a warm body beside him or under him, and when there wasn't he would startle to full awakeness. Rinse, repeat.

Four hours of that and he got to his feet. Hopefully Bucky was still awake and not adverse to more bed sharing. He didn't bother with shoes, and he sure as hell hadn't brought slippers to an archaeological dig, so he was padding down the hall with bare feet, feeling strangely like anyone who saw him would think that he was on the prowl. The thought made him laugh to himself, and he knocked on Bucky's door with a smile.

The expression froze when, instead of Bucky, it was Steve in the doorway. They were equally surprised to see each other, and Tony said an automatic apology. "Sorry I thought this was Bucky's room."

"It- is." Steve stepped to the side on autopilot, and Tony could see Bucky sitting on the bed.

Tony squeezed past Steve, not even wanting to deal with that mess right now and hoping that Steve would be equally disinclined to talk about it. "Hey," he said to Bucky, smiling again.

"Hey." He didn't smile back, just glanced at Steve behind him.

Tony shrunk in on himself a little. What was going on? "Uh, so am I not good enough for you in the real world or something?"

Bucky closed his eyes and leaned his head back, the picture of resignation. "I really don't wanna do this right now."

"Do what?"

"You said nothing happened," Steve said, coming up to stand beside Tony.

"No I didn't," Buck said. "I said not to worry about it."

"Him showing up at your room in the middle of the night seems like something to worry about."

"Why would you care?" Tony asked.

"Why wouldn't I care? You never picked up the damn phone? Fine. But are you really going to keep being a brat about this Tony? It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, I thought you'd understand."

"Understand that you dropped me in two seconds flat because 'something better came up'? If that's being bratty, then fine I'm a brat."

"If you'd answered the fucking phone--"

"Why would I! You'd already made it clear that you didn't give a shit, why the hell would I want to talk to you?"

"Gee Tony I don't know, maybe because we were in a relationship and you were throwing a little hissy fit that I didn't want to ignore my career for you?"

"A hissy fit?" Tony repeated, outraged. He'd been so fucking gone on Steve, cried for weeks because of him, and he had the audacity to say it was a hissy fit? "You left without a word!"

"No I didn't! I left you a note Tony what the hell!"

"No you didn't."

"Yes I did."

"No you fucking didn't."

"Yes I fucking did, I put it in that blanket you were always stealing from me because I knew you'd see it when you got back and then--"

"I didn't touch it," Tony said, no longer yelling but voice deadly serious. "I couldn't stand to touch it after you left."

"You- what? You didn't read it?"

"I didn't even know it existed," Tony said, still angry even though Steve looked like he was losing steam.

Steve looked crushed. "You didn't read it," he repeated quietly.

"No I didn't fucking read it. You should've stuck around for another couple hours though; you could've gotten as far as Bucky."

Bucky, who'd been temporarily forgotten while they fought, didn't say anything when Steve whirled on him.

"Bucky?" Steve whispered, sounding betrayed.

"I didn't know he was your Tony," he said weakly.

"I'm not his anything," Tony said again. He turned to Steve. "And right now I need to talk to him so get out."

"Still the rich boy ordering people around," Steve jabbed, but it was clear he was more focused on Bucky.

"Steve," Bucky chided, rubbing at his eyes with his right hand.

"Five minutes," was all he said before turning on his heel and closing the door hard behind him.

Bucky dropped his hand with a world weary sigh. "What's up Tony?"

"Why are you treating me like that? Are you still mad about me- freaking out on you earlier? I apologized, and you said it was fine. If you didn't mean it, then you should have--"

"I meant it," he cut in quickly.

"Okay, then what's the problem? You're acting like you don't even like me anymore."

"Tony," Bucky said, head lolling to the side defeatedly. "Who's your best friend? Rhodes or something?"

"Yeah, Rhodey." Tony had no idea where he was going with this, but at least that meant he'd listened to Tony when he talked.

"If Rhodey had this guy, this 'one who got away' old boyfriend, would you date 'im? Or would that be a completely scumbag thing to do so you had to walk away no matter how ya felt about him?"

Tony's hands tightened into fists at his side. "I'm more than some ex of Steve's."

Bucky gave him a small smile, saturated with regret and sadness. "I know sweetheart. But he's my best friend. I can't do that to 'im."

"But- but you said, you said you'd date me. When we got back."

"I know honey. I was going to, but I... I can't."

"He's not in love with me anymore. There's bad blood sure, but if we talk, I'm sure we'll figure it out, and then it'll be fine and we can be together." Tony didn't care that he sounded desperate because he was. "It sounds like it was just some fucked up misunderstanding anyways, we can talk and then we'll be fine."

"Tony baby," he said softly, taking Tony's hand. Tony hadn't even noticed that he'd walked closer. "If you think that man hasn't been in love with ya the past ten years, you're wrong. He fell in love with ya and he never fell out." He kissed Tony's knuckles. "Give him a chance."

"What?" Tony said, wrenching his hand back. It was one thing for Bucky to fucking rip his heart out, but to tell him that he should get back together with his best friend? What the hell? That was completely outside the realm of reasonable, where before it was like Bucky had seen the line and then very purposefully stepped over it. "Why would you- why would you say that? After everything you told me, you want me to just- what? For me to skip into the sunset with your best friend and forget we ever had anything?"

"Not forget," Bucky hedged, but it was clear he hadn't thought this through.

Tony was shaking his head. "No. Fuck that. Where the hell is Steve? The guy's giant and not all that good at keeping his word shouldn't he be back by now?"

"Tony?" Bucky asked, looking more than a little confused at Tony’s apparent change of heart.

Tony ignored him, pacing to the door and yanking it open to find Steve standing there uncomfortably.  “Come back in here asshole."

Steve did so. He was obviously worried about what Tony was going to say since he was calling him ‘asshole’ right at the start.

“Here’s what’s going to happen. We’re all going to get some fucking sleep and talk about this in the morning. For the moment, no one’s breaking up and no one’s going to get jealous for no reason,” he added the last bit with a glare sent in Steve’s direction.

“I take it you wanna stay here?” Bucky guessed.

“Yes.”

“I think Steve was plannin’ on stayin’ the night,” he said, sending a glance towards his best friend.

“I don’t care,” Tony said firmly.

“Then I don’t care either,” Steve said, and Bucky kind of wanted to stab him. But like, in the hand with a pencil, not anything serious.

Bucky sighed, pushing the blankets to the side when it was clear neither of them were going to suddenly change their mind. "C'mon Tony."

They all fit on the bed, a little cramped for normal standards, but since Tony had spent the last few days literally sleeping on top of Bucky, it felt roomy. At first he absolutely refused to be next to Steve, but he half-woke in the middle of the night and crawled between the two of them because he was cold.

When he woke up for the day, he felt well rested and the kind of incredibly warm that meant he never wanted to get out of bed. In the moment, he was perfectly willing to spend the rest of his life there. He slowly came back to himself though, and remembered that he was not only in bed with Steve, but he was sandwiched between him and his best friend, someone Tony had slept with and wanted to date.

Even with him waking up once in the middle of the night, it was some of the best sleep he'd ever had. Sleepy and content as he was, he didn't make a mad dash to the bathroom or even to get away from Steve-- someone who, twenty four hours ago, he would have given his fortune to not have to see again.

Instead, he stretched while he yawned, toes brushing someone's ankle and fingers flexing across a well-muscled chest. _I could get used to this_ , he thought, and it was a testament to how well he'd slept that the thought didn't immediately send him into a panic.

Steve woke up a while later, and Tony still hadn't moved, happy to lay there next to his personal human heaters. He tensed up as his mind caught up to the situation, and he started to pull away. Tony gave him a poke in the ribs, partially to watch him squirm but mostly to let him know that he wouldn't be able to slip away without anyone noticing.

He glanced down at Tony, obviously surprised to see him not only awake but trying to keep him there.

"That beard makes you look like a hobo," Tony said, and Steve quirked a smile, sleep making their jagged edges smooth.

"Bucky hates it too."

"That's cause ya look ridiculous punk," Bucky said-- apparently he was awake as well. He didn't move his arm from where it was slung across Tony's stomach.

"Two for three Steve, get moving." Tony made a shooing motion with his hand and, surprisingly, Steve went. Probably not to shave, unfortunately. He chuckled as he sat up, and Tony couldn't help but watch the flex of his shoulders as he stretched his arms over his head before getting to his feet. He closed the bathroom door behind him, maybe just because he needed to use the toilet, but hopefully also because he wanted to give Bucky and Tony a moment alone.

"Just answer one question honestly for me," Tony said quietly. The faucet in the bathroom turned on, and he was confident that Steve wouldn't be able to hear them even if he wanted to-- which he probably didn't.

"Okay."

Tony took a deep breath. Not looking at Bucky made it easier to get the words out. "Did you mean what you said to me? About- soulmates, and moving to New York?"

"Yes. Of course I meant it honey, I never woulda jerked you around like that."

"So if Steve weren't in the equation, you'd want to be with me."

"Yes," he admitted quietly, as if ashamed of himself. "But Tony... you're his fella. I'm surprised he hasn't beat the shit outta me for tryin' to steal ya."

"Maybe he has more brains than you," Tony said, though he didn't really believe that-- Steve did some really fucking stupid things sometimes-- "and he knows that what's between us had nothing to do with him."

"Had?"

"Well... he's here now, isn't he? He’s your best friend, and whether we like it or not, he’s a part of this now."

Bucky blinked. "He is. I uh, don’t have a problem with it if you don’t," he said as if surprised at that. It made Tony want to laugh, but he knew exactly what Bucky meant by it.

“I don’t. So we’re… good with this? With adding him in?”

“I am if you are,” Bucky said amiably.

“Good- that’s, that’s good,” he said lamely. Tony didn't get up, waiting for Steve to come back in the room. Twenty four hours ago, he probably would have shot himself for saying this, but… he really didn’t have a problem with it. It could be kind of great.

A few minutes later, Steve walked out of the bathroom, looking at them tentatively. "Everything okay?"

"No, you didn't shave that rat's nest on your face. Oh you meant between us? Yes. After you shave though, everything will be right in the world."

"Why don't you shave?" Steve asked, crossing his arms over his chest. Because Tony was weak, he found his eyes automatically staring at the bulge of his muscles. "Last time I saw you, you couldn't even grow peach fuzz."

"One that's a lie, and two I look a damn sight better than you do."

"He's right Stevie. On him, it's fashion, on you it's jus' messy."

"Buck you have scruff. That's practically the definition of messy."

"It looks good on him," Tony said, putting his hand behind himself a bit to pat Bucky on the leg.

"Thanks doll." Bucky pressed a kiss to the back of Tony's head. "C'mere Stevie, we gotta talk."

Steve walked closer but was still standing. "Alright."

"Not from up there you giant, get back in bed."

Thrown, Steve did what Tony said without complaint. He was still holding himself tensely though, and Tony couldn't decide if he wanted to cuddle or kiss it away.

"How do you feel about threesomes?" was Tony's eloquent start to the conversation.

"Can't say I'm a fan," came the unfortunate reply.

Luckily, Bucky and Steve didn't have much in the way of secrets between the two of them, so he knew what Steve was referring to. Steve had been a part of threesomes exactly twice, once in his own relationship, and once as the extra person to someone else's. In his own, it was because his boyfriend had wanted to break up with him and hadn't wanted to say anything, so he'd asked for a threesome and treated that like a replacement to a conversation about it-- needless to say, Steve had been completely blindsided. With the other couple, he had been a very obvious outsider, not in physicality, but in emotion. It made sense of course, but it wasn't an experience he was eager to repeat.

Bucky rolled his eyes, giving Tony a gentle poke in the stomach. "Don't say it like that. That's not what he means," he assured Steve. "He wants t' date both'a us. I'm good with it if you are."

"That's not what I meant," Tony said, frowning.

"I thought we jus' agreed that--"

"We agreed that it was going to be all three of us dating."

"Did we?"

"That's what I was agreeing to."

"What's going on?" Steve asked quietly. Obviously he had an idea based on what they were saying, but they weren't on the same page like they'd thought they were, so trying to explain it to him wasn't going to do anyone any good.

"Some version of the three of us. Yet to be determined what, apparently." Tony put a comforting hand on Steve's arm as he twisted his torso to face Bucky. "I thought you agreed that the three of us made sense," he said in an undertone. It wasn't quiet enough to keep Steve from hearing since he was so close, but the illusion of privacy felt necessary.

"I agreed that th' two of you made sense, and that we made sense. I didn't say anythin' about me an' Stevie together."

"I don't mind," Steve cut in.

They both turned to look at him, and his face flamed.

"I mean," he cleared his throat, "I used to like you Bucky, back when we were younger. When I was with Tony, I thought I'd finally found someone else I could be with. After that..." he made a face and trailed off, but he didn't need to finish; they both knew what he meant. He'd fallen in love twice and had nothing come of it, but that didn't mean he'd gotten over either of them.

"Sounds good to me," Tony offered.

There was silence as they waited for Bucky to talk. "I- I don't know. I've never thoughta you like that before."

Steve's face fell, but he recovered quickly, giving Bucky a sad smile. "It's okay. Not like I was expecting a love confession or something."

"I've never thought of ya like that before," Bucky repeated slowly, "but I... could."

"You can't force yourself to fall in love with me."

"Who said anything about forcin'? We just go on a few dates, and see if it works."

"And if it doesn't?" Steve asked.

None of them had an answer to that, but Tony rolled his eyes. “Don’t be such a pessimist.” After everything that had happened the last few days, Tony figured that the universe owed him one.

* * *

They made their way downstairs after a couple showers (on Bucky and Tony's part because they still didn't _quite_ feel clean), more talking, and lots of staring at each other longingly-- but every time one of them was caught they averted their eyes like they didn't know the other person was interested.

Tony met the rest of the team, and after a few minutes of feeling him out he was welcomed in, Stan ribbing Bucky about getting shot with a wink sent Tony's way, Bobbie D said that if they had better gear maybe the whole situation could have been avoided (and everyone ignored Tony's slightly hysterical laughter because something about the timing on that joke had hit him just right and he couldn't stop), and Junior teased Steve about being the best ragamuffin leader they'd ever had.

Sebastian got a little smirk on his face when he saw Bucky put his arm around the back of Tony's chair, setting his chin to rest in his hand. "So Tony--" not Stark, since Tony had nipped that in the bud after the first 'Mister Stark' made him want to run for the hills "--did you find out why he's the Bronco?"

"I'm sorry what?" Tony asked incredulously. If he'd misheard that, this was going to be very embarrassing if he blurted out that yes, he did know, only Tony had been the one doing the riding so did it even count?

Bucky groaned, cheeks pinking almost imperceptibly. "Nothin'."

"Oh what's this?" Junior crowed. "The great Barnes embarrassed by his go-to pick up line?"

"What is it?"

The rest of the group joined in to tease him, calling for him to tell Tony. Steve was noticeably silent, and when Tony glanced over he saw that Steve was covering his mouth with his hand, trying to hold back his laughter.

Bucky caved after several minutes of nobody showing any sign of letting it go. He turned to face Tony, phasing his expression to the sort of first-time-flirting-with-this-person expression that Tony recognized from his clubbing days. "Hey sweet thing," he said, voice a low rumble that carried so the whole table could hear, "wanna know why they call me the Bronco?"

Tony snickered a little before covering it up, deciding to play into the scene since Bucky was going for it full tilt. He put his hand high on Bucky's shoulder, sliding it to the back of his neck as he talked. "I can guess."

"And what're ya guessing?"

"That you're a really big," Tony said slowly, his eyes drifting over Bucky's torso and down to his lap before going back up to his face, leaning in like he was going to kiss him, "Denver's fan."

Bucky blinked, then lost it. He busted up laughing, shoulders shaking and leaning his head against Tony's shoulder as the whole table howled. If he hadn't already been head over heels for Tony, that would have been the moment when it happened.

* * *

Tony and Steve were alone together, for the first time in ten years. Bucky was in the bathroom, and the rest of the team had left to go to bed for the night. For all Tony tried to make the air between them comfortable, it was undeniably awkward.

"So," Steve said. "You and Bucky."

"And you, remember?"

"Right, and me," Steve said dismissively. "How'd that happen anyways? He flirts like there's no tomorrow, but I thought you would be a little more discerning."

"Why, because I didn't sleep with you when I was nineteen? That was a long time ago, I've changed."

"Clearly."

Something in Steve's tone made Tony turn to him, raising an eyebrow. "And just what is that supposed to mean?"

Steve sighed, the prelude to a fight gone easily as he slumped forward and rubbed at his eyes. "Nothing. I guess I just- hate that you've been with him and not me. That's not even anything against you or him, I just... hate it."

Tony sipped at his beer to avoid dealing with that. "What did your note say?"

"What?"

"You said you left me a note when you left. What did it say?"

"Oh." Steve leaned back in his chair, scratching at the edges of his beard. "Something about how I was sorry I couldn't say goodbye in person, that I was sorry for taking off before our night together." The way he said it though, made it sound like he knew exactly what the note said, but he didn't want Tony to know that he had it memorized. "And I told you that I'd call as soon as I could, but of course you never picked up."

They both sipped at their beers.

"You had me convinced you loved me," Tony said suddenly. "You never said it, never hinted that it was something more than a summertime romance until the end, so when you up and left for something better I thought I'd read it wrong. I thought it had been easy for you to leave."

"It wasn't," Steve said quietly.

"I know that now."

A pause. "You know I was talking about doing nothing in New York, right? When I said China was something better?"

Tony swallowed thickly. How could something from ten years ago still hurt so much? He knew that Steve hadn't tossed him aside like garbage now, he knew that, but thinking about the misunderstanding, all the time he'd spent crying over him... it felt like it was yesterday. "I do now."

"Tony," Steve whispered, voice laced with sympathetic pain.

"I didn't date blondes you know. They all reminded me of you."

"I've seen some pictures of you that disagree."

"Steve, have you been reading gossip rags?"

"No," he said, but he was blushing a light pink, visible even through his beard.

"Aww you have! Were you keeping tabs on me?"

"No," he mumbled, but it was clearly a lie and his blush got darker. "I'm sorry about your parents."

Tony's growing smile faded. "Thanks. Can't say I'm proud of the way I handled it."

"No one handles that well."

"Yeah but other people don't have their breakdowns featured on the seven o'clock news as proof for why they're going to run their Fortune Five Hundred Company into the ground." _I should have known better_ , was what he didn't say, but Steve heard it loud and clear. He saw Bucky approaching slowly, and straightened up, shooting him a smile. Bucky smiled back, but it was obvious he knew that Tony wasn't as happy as he was pretending.

"Everythin' okay?"

"Catching up," Steve answered, and Bucky nodded in understanding.

He leaned over and kissed Tony on top of his curls. "I'm goin' up t' bed. You c'n join if ya want or you c'n keep talkin'." There was no judgement there, no poisoned look to say that Tony had better choose the right one. Bucky paid for their drinks and trudged up the stairs.

They both watched him go but said nothing.

"I think I'm going to head up too."

"Alright," was all Steve said.

Tony bid him an awkward goodbye, and followed Bucky's path to his room. He probably should have gone to his own, but he didn't want to toss and turn until desperation drove him to Bucky's. He didn't bother to knock before walking in, and it was only once he saw Bucky getting ready to take a shower with a towel wrapped around his waist that he thought maybe he should have.

"Hey sweetheart," Bucky said, rifling through his suitcase for a new pair of boxer briefs. "You an' Stevie done talkin'?"

"For the moment," Tony replied absently as his eyes lingered on the view Bucky's exposed body provided. "Would you uh, mind some company in the shower?"

Bucky smirked, hooking his thumb around the knot he'd made in the towel. "I don't know sweet thing, ya feeling dirty?"

Tony snorted as he laughed, hand coming up to cover his face, but Bucky only smiled widely. "How did you ever manage to seduce anyone with pick-up lines like that?"

"Same as you, I'd imagine."

"You got trapped in the jungle avoiding people who wanted to kill you and they fell in love?"

Bucky startled, not a lot, but enough to be visible, and Tony registered what he'd just said-- and the fact that he hadn't said that to Bucky before, despite the other man saying that he thought their souls were made for each other.

Tony blushed, hoping that Bucky wouldn't draw attention to it. He didn't, padding forward, sexual overtures momentarily forgotten. He put one hand on the side of Tony's face and kissed him sweetly, reeling him in assuredly and keeping his attention so thoroughly that Tony went lightheaded from not breathing. "How 'bout that shower?" he whispered, pulling back a little and rubbing their noses together.

Tony nodded, following Bucky into the bathroom. Despite both of them hinting at shower sex, nothing like that happened. It was... sensual maybe, but mostly Tony kept him company in the water as he washed his hair. With two of them in there, space was a bit of an issue, but they didn't bother skirting past each other to try and reach what they needed. Tony just grabbed the conditioner for him and lathered it into his hair. Bucky tilted his head back to rinse it out, and Tony gave into the temptation of tracing the line of his throat.

Bucky swallowed, but he didn't tell Tony to stop or actually look uncomfortable with it.

"You need a shave."

"Don't like beard burn sweet thing?"

"It has its place," Tony said neutrally.

Bucky's eyes were closed under the spray, and Tony couldn't entirely see his face with it tilted back the way it was, but he caught Bucky's smirk. "On your legs not your face?"

"Something like that." He tried to imagine Steve kissing him with his beard, but it didn't line up. It was hard to imagine Steve's face being anything but smooth or maybe with a five o'clock shadow after a day's work, let alone picturing him being with Tony with that thing on his face. "You can have one, but Steve really needs to get that rug off his face if he wants to come anywhere close to me."

Bucky laughed, finally straightening. Tony curled his fingers around to the back of Bucky's neck and leaned his forehead against Bucky's shoulder. In turn, Bucky wrapped his arms around Tony's back, linking his fingers together loosely where they rested on the curve of Tony's butt. "We'll talk him into gettin' rid of it."

They stood in silence for a minute, letting the hot water fall over their still sore bodies. "Have you really never thought of him that way?"

Bucky made a noncommittal noise. "Once or twice when we were kids. He looked pretty diff'rent back then."

Tony snorted. "Yeah I'm sure you saw your best friend and only wanted him for his body. It's okay to say you like him you know."

"But we're together."

"And soon he's going to be part of 'we'. Look Bucky, if you're not comfortable with it, you need to say so now, or at least before we do anything with him."

Bucky's fingers flexed reflexively, and he sighed, running them up Tony's back like he was soothing him, though it was obviously more for his own benefit than Tony's. "This isn't exactly normal in a relationship. It just- takes some gettin' used to."

"But you're okay with it?"

Bucky didn't answer immediately, taking the time to think it over which Tony appreciated more than he could say. "Yeah," he said eventually. "I think I am."

"Ready to jump Steve's bones?" Tony joked.

"Ready t' see you jump his bones," Bucky said, and Tony promptly choked on his tongue.

He coughed and figured that there was no way for Bucky to see how red his face had gotten at that suggestion since it could easily be blamed on the heat of the shower. "So uh, you like watching? I think we're very lucky that your kink is going to be so easy to fulfill."

"Not sure I like watchin', I just like watchin' you."

"And watching Steve fuck me?"

"Or blow you, I ain't picky."

Tony laughed, something in his chest loosening. "We should get out before the water turns cold."

"Aww c'mon..."

"You can stay if you want, but I'm not."

Bucky pouted, sticking out his bottom lip. He looked rather like a toddler in the body of a gruff mercenary, and that thought had Tony laughing again. "So mean t' me."

"I make up for it in all the ways I'm nice to you." Tony flattened his hand low on Bucky's abdomen so that there was no question what he meant by 'nice'. And then, because Bucky was right and he was mean, he reached around him and turned off the water.

Bucky squawked, giving him a look of utter betrayal that sent Tony into uncontrollable giggles. It left Bucky with the opening to throw Tony over his shoulder and dump him on the bed without drying him off, which he did unapologetically.

"The blanket's getting wet."

"You shoulda thought of that before you shut th' water off. Now, ya have no one but yourself to blame."

Tony grabbed a pillow and swat Bucky over the head with it. Bucky got revenge by tickling him, and it devolved into quick tickle attacks and then trying to dodge the retaliation.

It was silly and stupid, and Bucky couldn't remember the last time he'd had so much fun. There was a knock on the door and they finally left each other alone, collapsing on the bed and trying to catch their breath through lingering laughs. "Who is it?"

"It's Steve," he answered, voice muffled from being on the other side of the door.

Bucky said "Come in!" before he could think about the fact that he was naked and that probably wasn't a view Steve wanted to walk in on.

Sure enough, he saw them and froze, averting his eyes quickly and putting his hand up so it blocked them from his view. Only instead of Steve saying something like 'for God's sake Buck put on some pants', he said, "You could've told me to wait until you were done, y'know."

"What?" Bucky asked, frowning. Then he realized what it looked like and laughed. "We weren't having sex, Stevie, calm down."

"Right, cause people always look flushed and breathless while they're naked for no reason."

"He didn't say for no reason," Tony pointed out, "he just said not sex."

"Then what was it?"

"A tickle fight. Which I won."

Bucky got him in the side, but he didn't make any move to break free when Tony clamped down on his fingers.

"Uh I'm sure you did," Steve said, obviously humoring him. Hesitantly, he dropped his hand, but he was still very careful to keep his eyes away from their privates-- Bucky's especially.

"You shaved," Tony noticed, a grin spreading across his face in a rather smug manner.

Steve cleared his throat, blushing now where walking in on them before hadn't. "Yeah well. I figured it was time."


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is late for 2 reasons. 1. I realized that I didn't have a sex scene with all 3 of them. 2. Writing smut is ridiculously difficult sometimes. As such, the ending on this sort of fades to black (sorry...).
> 
> There's some violence/pain stuff going on in this chapter, but it's p brief. Just remember that Bucky is indeed a mercenary. Also, there's a little Steve/Tony scene, where they say some mean things to each other and have a bit of hate sex. If that's not your cuppa, just skip down to the break after Bucky suggests they fuck it out.

They were on the plane, headed back to the States. It felt surreal to be on his plane as scheduled like nothing had happened, only now he was joined by both Steve and Bucky. One of them somebody that he had never planned on seeing again, and the other a mercenary that he would have thought didn't do the commitment thing.

Bucky had fallen asleep almost as soon as they took off, and Tony found himself surprisingly awake. He'd figured that if Bucky was tired then he would be too, but apparently that wasn't the case.

Steve looked out the window at the expanse of clouds under them and sighed.

"What?" Tony asked curiously.

"Never thought this would happen," he said with a crooked smile. "I thought of all these possibilities when Bucky was missing with you, and none of them included this."

"You mean you didn't think you'd end up in a polyamorous relationship with your best friend and the ex that broke your heart? Wow Steve, be a little more self-involved."

Steve laughed, and it crinkled the skin next to his eyes in a way that made Tony want to kiss him senseless.

"You're a teacher right?"

"Yeah."

"What level?"

"High school."

Tony's eyes went wide. "Why would you do that to yourself?"

Steve chuckled at Tony's reaction which was-- in his opinion-- over the top. "They're not that bad."

"You've probably got a group of jail bait hitting on you every day."

"If they do, I haven't noticed."

"You don't notice a lot of things Steve, I'm not sure that the best measurement."

Steve rolled his eyes. "What does it matter if I notice or not? Frankly, if they're doing it, I'm glad I don't know about it."

"It just means you'll have to drag me in so they know you're taken. Maybe don't let them know you're with me and Bucky though, they might get the wrong idea."

"What's the wrong idea? We are all together."

"Yeah but they'd think you're a deviant or something instead of a sap who's in love with two people just so he can have someone hold him all the time."

Steve rolled his eyes again and Tony laughed.

"Don't worry about it Steve, ignoring them is the right way to go."

"I know," he grumbled, but he seemed more upset that he'd had to think about it at all then that Tony had brought it up. "Uh, you and Bucky seem happy."

"I think we are. Are you still planning on being happy with us?"

Steve shrugged. "Seems like it."

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry. About the letter," he clarified when Steve gave him a questioning look.

"You didn't know."

"I'm not necessarily saying it's my fault, I'm just sorry that you had to go through that. You thought I was ignoring you even after you apologized for leaving and told me how much you cared about me; that had to hurt."

"It did," Steve admitted, "but it's not like I blamed you. You had expectations and I failed."

"'Failed'," Tony repeated. "If you're this hard on yourself, how are you on your students?"

"Will you let it go already?" Steve asked with a laugh.

"I missed out on years worth of teasing Steve, I have to fit it all in now."

"If you say so."

Tony narrowed his eyes, sensing that Steve was holding something back. "Wait a second. What subject do you teach?"

"Hm?" Steve's eyes went wide and he blinked them faux-innocently. "I think I hear Bucky getting up I'm going to go check on him."

"No no no get your ass back here Rogers!" Tony got hold of his arm before he made it all the way to standing, but Steve was a lot bigger than him, so he kept moving and Tony ended up getting dragged out of his chair.

Surprisingly enough, Bucky had gotten up, and he paused in the doorway. Steve and Tony froze, both of them turning to look at him from their awkward position.

Tony tilted his head to look up at Steve quizzically. "Did you actually hear him? I thought you were bullshitting."

"I was."

"I see I interrupted somethin'," Bucky said, taking in the situation with a faint smile.

"What subject does he teach?"

"History," Bucky answered automatically, accidentally talking over Steve's plea for him to keep his mouth shut.

Tony gasped, then fumbled to his feet. "You're Indiana Jones," he said quietly, a delightfully wicked smile creeping across his face. "You're Indiana Jones!" he crowed, then started laughing.

Steve pretended to be unamused, but after a minute he joined in.

Tony walked away a minute later, shaking his head and wiping away the tears he'd gotten from laughing so hard. There were water bottles around here somewhere, he just had to find them.

"Stevie c'mere, I wanna try somethin'," Bucky said.

"Should I be worried?" he joked, walking forward without waiting for an answer because it didn't matter.

Bucky put one hand on the side of Steve's face and leaned in, giving him a quick, chaste kiss.

Steve blinked dumbly at him. His lips buzzed where Bucky had kissed him, but it wasn't until after Bucky had pulled away that Steve even registered what had happened. "Uh."

Bucky raised an eyebrow. "Good?"

"I mean... yeah. I'm just- confused. I thought you wanted to go on a date first."

Bucky shrugged. "I thought about it last night, and you're not half bad." He had a smirk on his face that let Steve know that he was joking but also that he had no intention of elaborating anytime soon.

"And Tony--"

"Is more okay with this than you an' me are."

Steve licked his lips, chasing a taste of Bucky that wasn't there. "Okay. That's good at least."

"What's good?" Tony asked, walking up to them and screwing the lid back on the water bottle.

"My kissin'," Bucky said with a wink.

"You guys kissed? And I missed it?"

"Relax doll, it'll happen again."

"Can it happen right now?" Tony asked, looking between the two of them with undisguised interest.

Steve and Bucky looked at each other, waiting for permission from the other one. Of course then they realized that the other person was doing the same thing and there were some hand gestures and facial expressions exchanged before Steve put a hand on Bucky's hip and leaned in.

It was a longer kiss this time, but it was just as chaste as the first. Steve wondered how long he needed to wait before he tried for more-- too long in his opinion, but he was more than willing to wait and god knew it wouldn't be the ten year wait he'd had with Tony.

"Shit," Tony said, but it didn't look like he'd meant to. More like it was pulled out of him involuntarily. "That's the hottest thing I've ever seen."

"I think his head's gonna pop off when dicks get involved," Bucky stage whispered.

Steve chuckled. "Don't think that'll be for a while honey, you'll have plenty of time to get used to the idea."

"It doesn't have to be a while," Bucky suggested, rubbing his fingers on the edge of Steve's shirt to get his fingers busy.

"What?"

"I told ya I thought about it last night."

"And came to the realization that you wanted to hop into bed with me?" Steve asked disbelievingly.

Bucky blew out a frustrated breath. "If it was just the two'a us, no probably not. But I like you well enough, and I wanna see how you an' Tony look together. It's jus' physical right now, but I think it... could be more after a while."

Steve looked between the two of them, obviously conflicted and trying to decide what he wanted. He must have figured it out, because he set his jaw and gave a sharp nod, pulling Bucky into a kiss like it was a challenge, and one he was determined to win. Bucky winced when Steve pressed a little too hard and their teeth clacked together.

"Easy, Steve," he whispered, "we've got time." He put his hands on either side of Steve's face and took control of the kiss, going slower and deeper until Steve's toes were curling in his shoes. When they finally pulled apart, Bucky glanced at Tony.

His pupils were blown wide, and his cheeks were flushed a delighted pink. His hand was on his cock, grinding down to take the edge off, and Bucky licked his lips automatically.

"C'n I see you two together?" Bucky asked, dropping his left hand from Steve's face so it hung limply at his side.

Steve looked to Tony to see if he was okay with it, but Tony was already stumbling over, so when Steve turned his head, Tony was right there, throwing his arms around Steve's neck and getting on his tiptoes to reach him. Steve's eyes fluttered shut and he couldn't stop a moan from escaping him; Tony tasted exactly the way he remembered. Tony was more brazen now than he'd been back then, which Steve hadn't thought possible until this moment. Tony wasn't afraid to bite Steve's bottom lip or grope his back as a demand for more, and when Steve gave it to him, he had no qualms about moaning his appreciation for it.

Tony bumped up into his body, pressing their erections together, and his breath hitched before he let out a long groan.

Steve pulled back for long enough to see what was happening before diving back in. Bucky was behind Tony now, lazily rolling his hips against Tony's ass and sucking lightly on the sensitive parts of his neck. He reached one of his hands around and grabbed a handful of Steve's ass, pulling him closer so that Tony was thoroughly sandwiched between them, unable to move without rubbing against both of their cocks.

That turned out to be exactly what Tony wanted apparently, because he started to roll his hips, pressing the curve of his ass hard against Bucky before thrusting forward into Steve.

"Yeah baby jus' like that," Bucky mumbled, working himself into Tony's rhythm.

"God Tony." Steve put one of his arms up, bracketing Tony in even more as he curved his hand onto Bucky's shoulder, feeling the flex of muscle as he moved.

If he were a younger man, he would have gotten off like that. He just would have kept rubbing against the two of them until he shot off in his pants like a goddamn teenager. He wasn't though, and as much as he enjoyed what was currently happening, he wanted to move forward. "What's happening here?" he asked, leaning his head against Steve's shoulders and not stopping his hips from moving even though maybe he should have so that all of them could think a little more clearly. "Who's fucking who?"

"Don't think we have any lube," Steve laughed.

Tony lifted his head to glare at him sidelong. "It's my plane; of course there's lube."

"Sounds about right," Bucky said. "Where is it sweet thing?"

Tony would have answered, only Bucky had wormed a hand between Tony and Steve's bodies and slid his hand under Tony's shirt to peek his fingers under the waistband of his pants and like hell he could think of where he'd put it after that. It's not like he'd used it recently, so the location wasn't exactly at the forefront of his memory. "Uh. It's um- fuck," he breathed as Bucky got the tips of his fingers on the head of his cock.

"Stop distracting him," Steve said, but it didn't actually sound like he wanted Bucky to stop what he was doing. That theory was helped by the fact that Steve was thrusting against the line of Bucky's knuckles and wasn't attempting to stop himself.

"Aw c'mon Stevie, you tellin' me you don't wanna get on your knees for him? He looks real pretty from down there." With Bucky's hand squished between the two of them, he could feel the both their cocks twitched at the thought. He grinned, hiding the expression in Tony's neck.

* * *

They didn't end up getting off together, mostly because Tony completely failed to remember where the lube was and Steve decided that they should wait a little longer before they did that.

Tony had nodded, agreed, said he understood, and walked off to the miniscule airplane bathroom to jerk off. When he walked out, he saw Bucky waiting by the door, still sporting an impressive stiffy. Sharing a laugh, Tony and Bucky slapped their hands together like they were tagging out for a race as they passed each other.

Either Steve had taken care of himself out in the open or he'd thought very unsexy thoughts until it went away. Given by the frustrated air surrounding him, Tony guessed it was the latter. He kind of wanted to be a little shit and climb on his lap and act all innocent until Bucky came out, but honestly... yeah, Steve had been right. They could all jump into bed together, and it would feel amazing, but Tony would end up not talking it out with him and just fucking him until he forgot all about it. ...and then it would fester until he took it out on him and lost both Steve and Bucky. Loathe as he was to admit it to himself, Steve was right. He wasn't going to tell him that though because a hand other than his own would have been nice.

Pepper was there when he got off the plane, throwing her arms around Tony and pulling him into a hug with a vice like grip that he didn't even attempt to escape. "If you ever do that to me again, I am going to ruin your image and steal all your money."

"That's just a regular Tuesday Pep."

She let out a noise that sounded suspiciously similar to a sob, but her face was mostly clear when she pulled away-- and if Tony ignored that her mascara was the tiniest bit smudged, she looked as perfect as ever. "I take it these are the men that saved you?" she said, extending her hand towards Bucky.

"I wouldn't go that far," Bucky said with a rueful smile, but he politely took her hand anyways.

"Did you catch whoever it was on your end?" she asked him before turning to Tony. "We received a ransom demand, but without proof that they had you, I wasn't going to do anything." She looked apologetic about it, but Tony nodded. He'd helped write that policy, and he was damn glad that Pepper had stuck to it.

"We got them," Steve said, and Pepper quickly stuck out her hand again. "They're just the muscle though, I wouldn't say that Tony's out of danger yet."

"I was afraid you'd say that." Pepper's brow furrowed in worry, and Tony poked her gently on the forehead.

"You'll get wrinkles like that Miss Potts. It's not your problem, so don't worry about it."

"Fine I'll worry about all the things that are my problem. When would you like to start?"

"Start what?" he asked, dreading to hear the answer.

Pepper raised an eyebrow. "Press. Statements about what happened, what you plan to do, funeral arrangements for the students that died, reparations to the country for the harm done to their buildings and stolen artifacts, whether or not this mess is over, if the dig is going to continue in the future." She had a few more things to say, but she stopped when she saw it overwhelming Tony. Her expression softened. "Take a couple days. I'll get everything set up that way all you have to do is make the final decision. One big press conference to address everything and then you'll be fine and we can pretend like this whole thing never happened."

"No."

Pepper blinked. "...No?"

"It happened Pep. There's no ignoring that."

"Tony, you don't have to punish yourself for what happened. It's not your fault."

"I'm not punishing myself," he denied. "And I don't need a couple days."

"You c’n take a little time sweetheart. It's not gonna kill ya," Bucky said.

"You don't have any proof of that," Tony replied with a small glare.

"Neither do you doll. At least take the day. Recover from jet lag, get some sleep in your own bed for once, and then deal with everything."

Pepper looked between the two of them, eyebrows slowly climbing up her forehead. She didn't know where the third guy fit into this, but she was starting to think that a lot more happened to Tony in South America than she'd originally thought. "Okay," she said slowly. "Why don't you and your... friends... get some sleep and me and the other girls will take care of things for now."

For a moment, it looked like Tony was going to argue, but then he sighed, suddenly looking very tired. "Yeah that sounds good. Thanks Pepper." He gave her cheek a kiss and started towards where Happy was waiting with the car-- fortunately not one of the two-person convertibles he had-- and was glad that they'd all already decided that Steve and Bucky would be coming home with him, ostensibly for security purposes.

"Hey boss," Happy said, giving Tony a smile but treating Bucky and Steve to a very suspicious look. "How was it down there?"

"Hot."

"We used to live in Malibu."

"Yeah but now we're in New York. And it was a fucking jungle Hap, not the beach."

"I see you're in a good mood," he said drily, and Tony snorted, cracking a smile.

"I'm allowed to be miserable if I want to."

"Of course you are," Happy said with a pat on his shoulder and a fake-commiserating look.

Tony chuckled. "This is why you're a driver slash bodyguard and not a comedian for a living."

"Rude." He grabbed everyone's dirty packs and put them in the trunk, giving Steve a nasty glare when he tried to insist that it wasn't necessary for Happy to do that for him. "I don't like your new friend boss. Stick with the other one."

Bucky stuck his tongue out at Steve, who scowled and was a little broody on the drive to the Tower.

* * *

Bucky moved right into Tony's room, only needing a little prodding before agreeing to it. Steve was a different story altogether. Since that one time on the plane, neither of them had done more than give Steve a peck on the mouth, so even if they had invited him to the room, it would have been extremely awkward. As a weird point of solidarity, Bucky and Tony hadn't had sex since they got back, not wanting to risk jealousy or anything else like that with Steve.

They'd talked about a lot in the weeks they'd been back: Steve's job, Bucky's job, possible long distance, what they'd tell people about their relationship or if they would. It may not be the most important thing they needed to talk about, but it was certainly up there. Unfortunately, sitting all three of them down around the kitchen table was more awkward than talking all snuggled in bed or thousands of miles in the sky had been. Regardless, that's where life found them a few weeks after they got off the plane together.

Tony was trying to find the meaning of life in his coffee cup, Bucky was rubbing at his left shoulder uncomfortably, and Steve was chewing on his bottom lip like it had done him wrong. "Well this was informative, time to go home."

That got a laugh out of Bucky and Steve, but it barely lightened the mood.

"I know we're supposed to talk," Tony said, "but I don't really know what about."

"Us, I think," Steve said drily.

"Well that's one down."

Tony gave Bucky a look because he was kind of hoping that he would be a little more helpful than that. "I think it's more about what we're doing with you," Tony said, turning to look at Steve.

"With me?"

Tony raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. Or are you trying to tell me that you're content with the way things are right now? Don't even try to deny it Rogers."

"I'm not denying anything," he said, rubbing a hand over his face. "Okay, I wish I could be with you more than the handful of dates we've been on." And there were only so romantic those dates could be with all three of them together because romantic restaurants had two person tables, not three.

"Maybe we're tryin' too hard," Bucky mused, finally dropping his hand from his shoulder to the table.

"What?"

He shrugged. "Tryin' to put me an' Stevie together with you at the same time? It's where we wanna end up, but maybe you two need ta fuck things out before then."

"You're a real romantic Bucky," Tony said flatly, but he agreed on some level. Trying to get Bucky and Steve from a friendship to a romantic/sexual relationship when both of them were already attracted to Tony didn't seem like the best idea. "I think he's right," he said, looking at Steve.

"That's not going to bother you?" Steve asked Bucky incredulously.

"You think I'm a lot more jealous than I am buddy. As long as Tony still kisses me goodnight, I'm fine. So," he said, a grin creeping across his face, "should I give you two the room or are you tryin' to pretend you don't wanna go at it like animals?"

"We're not going to fuck on the table but thanks."

Bucky gave a put-upon sigh. "I can't believe I'm dating people so boring. Well if you're not gonna get iton in here, leave. I have some potatoes with my name on them, and I'm not gonna waste time workin' the two'a you up if I don't get to join." He made a little shooing motion with his hand as he got to his feet.

"Are we done talking?" Tony asked.

"For the moment." He made another gesture to get them to leave, which they did.

The kitchen door swung behind them as they walked through, making their way to the living room with the sterile looking couches and unadorned walls.

"It doesn't look like anyone lives here," Steve said, staring at a blank spot on the wall that looked like it was made specifically to hang a painting.

"I work a lot, Steve," Tony said drily. "And a decorator did this."

"I thought decorators put up art and fake house plants," he said, looking around at the distinct lack of both.

"The art was shit and the green plastic got in my way so I got rid of them."

"And didn't replace them?"

"Obviously not. Are we doing this or not?"

"Romantic."

Tony glared at him, putting his hands on his hips as he was sent back to feeling like he was nineteen and in love with an asshole for the first time. Specifically, the asshole right in front of him. "Not to put too fine a point on it, but if you wanted me to be romantic about our first time together, you shouldn't have made me wait until the last day before the dig site broke up."

It was only because Tony didn't actually sound upset about it that Steve was able to sneer back, both of them getting into the other's space. "Maybe if you weren't giving it away to every person you meet, it wouldn't matter that I actually had a job and you were just a spoiled brat."

"Maybe if you were someone worth having I wouldn't have spread my legs for your best friend before I did it for you."

They crashed together, and a while later they were catching their breath on the couch. They'd gotten come on the expensive leather, and Tony was glad for the excuse to get rid of the thing. He wanted something soft, not something that was lifted from page six on a minimalist catalog for the super rich.

Tony swallowed, trying to get his head on straight. It was a good thing Bucky hadn't been here for this because it had had nothing to do with him, or hell, even love. Steve and Tony had lingering feelings over the bad parts of their past, and just now they'd gotten over it. It had been a release, cathartic and good, but it wasn't what Tony would call pleasant.

"I don't think you're a- slut. Or anything like that," Steve said.

"I know. And I don't blame you for working on your career."

Steve nodded, and they continued to lay on the couch until it got uncomfortable. ...and then a little more because that had an exhausting experience all around. No offense to Steve, but hate sex was highly overrated.

* * *

Things got easier after that. Tony and Steve weren't tiptoeing around each other anymore, and that made things with Bucky better as well. It let Tony be with both Steve and Bucky without any hurt feelings, and it let Steve and Bucky work on their own relationship instead of worrying about each other.

It was like the slightly weird end to an adventure story, and Tony found that he was liking it. A gorgeous man on both arms, definitely in love with one of them and getting that way with the other one after pining after him for a decade.

It wasn't perfect between Steve and Bucky, both of them far from accustomed to being in a relationship like this and trying to get used to seeing each other in a romantic way, but for Tony, everything was pretty much perfect.

And that was what he'd been thinking up to the moment that something clunked on the back of his head and it all went dark with a sharp pain radiating through his skull.

* * *

"Have you seen Tony?" Bucky asked, looking around with a confused frown.

"No, I thought he was meeting you for a date."

"He was supposed to, but he never showed. I'm guessin' he didn't say anything ta you?"

Steve shook his head.

"I tried callin' him and he didn't pick up."

"Maybe he's just running late?"

"An hour late?"

"And his phone died?" Steve tried.

Bucky's frown deepened. "It didn't send me straight to voicemail."

"I'll give it another try," Steve said, pulling out his phone and calling Tony. They both paused and turned slowly as they heard it ringing from the other room. Steve got to his feet and they both followed the sound until it led them to an empty room, Tony's phone buzzing on the ground, abandoned.

"Shit. Shit." Bucky punched his hand against the doorframe, not wincing when it split one of his knuckles open. "We knew someone hired Rumlow and we didn't do a goddamn thing about it!"

"You're not to blame," Steve said, but his face was going white and pinched with rage. His fingers fumbled for the button to end the call, and he bent to pick up Tony's phone.

Not a second later, Bucky's phone rang. "Hello?"

"Bucky? It's Pepper, are you in the building? I- I need to see you at your earliest convenience."

"This wouldn't have anything to do with someone grabbin' him would it?" he asked, voice tight. Steve frowned at him from the ground, straightening with Tony's phone held in a white knuckled grip. Bucky took the phone from his ear and put it on speakerphone.

"You know," she said, sounding relieved that she wouldn't have to break the news. "Do you know who did it? Have they contacted you? All I got was a message--"

"What did it say?"

* * *

Tony came to harshly, and at first he couldn't pinpoint what had woken him because he was in pain everywhere, but after a few seconds, he realized that oh, it was because someone had slapped him. That was pretty rude, considering that he'd been enjoying his life pretty damn well to this point.

"Hello Mister Stark. How are you feeling?" the man's voice was light, using the same tone that someone at the hospital might if they were checking on his recovery.

Tony lolled his head around, blinking away the fuzziness. He was glad that the lighting here was dim, because even the cliched swinging light far above him would be too much if he hadn't managed to roll his head towards his shoulder. He couldn't make out any of the man's features except for the fact that there were two of him moving in an impossible way.

Great. He had a concussion. Tony licked his lips and tried to clear some of the fog from his head. It didn't really work, but he talked anyways. "Alright for such poor accommodations. One star."

He sighed. "You always have been annoying." He fisted a hand in Tony's hair, yanking his head back. "Your arrival at the site was supposed to help me, not put me in Barnes's sights."

"I don't think kidnapping me is going to help you fly under the radar you unoriginal asswipe."

He let go of Tony and stepped back. Tony expected some sort of reply, perhaps in the form of a villainous speech, but something smashed into his leg and he screamed, the sound tearing through his throat and scraping it raw.

* * *

Steve frowned at the group. "Panama?" he repeated. "What happened in Panama?"

None of them were judging him for not knowing, but there was a grave air to the group.

"We only know him as the Colonel. Whole operation went south, Bobbie-D, Sebastian, and Brock all got captured, remember?"

"That was Panama? Fucking hell." Steve scrubbed a hand over his face. "And now that guy has Tony?"

"Yep. So you can come along if you want to Steve, but I'm gonna rip the entrails from that piece of shit and wrap them around his neck."

Steve shook his head, pinning Bucky with a look that brokered no disagreement. "I'm going with you."

Bucky didn't have to ask if he was sure because he could see it in his eyes. He took two sure steps to get close to Steve and pulled him in for a searing kiss. "We'll get 'im back, I promise you."

"I know we will."

The team carefully kept their faces free from any judgement, and all around pretended that they hadn't seen a goddamn thing.

"Let's get movin'."

* * *

They heard Tony screaming long before they saw him, and Bucky saw red. A glance at Steve showed that he was feeling the same way.

Bucky's hand clenched around his favorite gun, the same Desert Eagle he'd handed to Tony what felt like ages ago but had barely been a month. Even though it killed him, he signaled for everyone to wait.

Evan was swiping furiously on his phone, trying to bring up the heat signatures. Something was blocking him, but it was a cursory security measure they'd used, not a specialist, so it was only a matter of time before he got past it.

Bucky watched him intently, waiting for the moment he had a number for them. It wouldn't change their plans unless there was a veritable army in there, but it was safest for them to know ahead of time.

Eventually he got it, shoulders going down slightly in relief. He raised his hand and tapped his first finger and his thumb together twice: twenty.

Hm. There were nine of them, with surprise it was a little more even, but there was Tony to consider, and with no windows letting them have a sniper, it might turn into a western shootout. That was something Bucky could confidently say no one wanted to happen, and it was definitely something he wanted to avoid.

They'd already taken out the patrols, so there was only so long he could think about this before they ran out of time. The warehouse was officially full of inventory, which would be horrible for them with all the cover it would provide, however Bucky doubted that this was a permanent base. They were either waiting for someone to show up-- unlikely since the Colonel was supposed to be in here-- or settling here for a day before moving somewhere more secure.

Bucky motioned for four of them to move around the back and set their timers for two and a half minutes from now. It would give each of them a little buzz to signal when they should go, but Bucky counted down the time anyways. It helped focus him, narrowing his vision to the mission ahead of them.

The watch vibrated against his skin and they all moved as one, kicking the doors in and shooting. They got most of them in that first wave, and they were able to get all but one of the remainders as the inhabitants were turning to see what was happening. That was... easy. Too easy it felt like, and Bucky was nervous as they walked in.

Someone was standing in front of Tony, holding a gun to his head and looking supremely unbothered by the fact that all of his men had just been killed. "Commander Barnes," he said, sending Bucky a shark like grin. "Nice to finally see you in person."

"Colonel. Wish I could say the same." His gun was trained at the Colonel's center of gravity, but he had no intention of shooting him there. For one thing, he was certainly wearing body armor under his suit.  

"Is that any way to talk to the man that has your lover staring down a cannon?" For another, that. Shooting him in the gut would get Tony shot, even if that wasn't what the Colonel actually wanted.

If it had been someone else, Bucky probably would have shot him right between the eyes, but there was a heat of rage coursing through him. Tony was sitting in that chair, bruised and bleeding and god only knows what else. Bucky was never a merciful man, and he was about to become cruel. He shot the Colonel's hand and paced forward slowly, seeing that he was absolutely useless shrieking at the bloody hole in his hand as he fell to his knees.

Steve saw the damage he'd done to one of Tony's legs and shot him in the knee before forcefully dragging him away from Tony, who hadn't responded to any of the noises around him.

"I don't care who does it, but somebody kill that thing," Bucky said, waving a careless hand at the Colonel as he gently cut Tony free from the chair they'd strapped him to. He didn’t look as his team took care of it, only glancing near the end to see for himself that it was done.

**Epilogue**

_What a group we make_ , Tony thought looking at his two partners. Bucky and Tony were both sporting a prosthetic as the three of them curled up on the couch together. Tony for his leg where it had gotten bashed apart by the colonel, and Bucky for his arm where the bullet wound from Rumlow had gotten infected and not caught until it was too late. Recovery had been a long, admittedly bumpy road, but they made it out together, stronger than ever.

Steve was the odd man out funnily enough, actually managing to keep ahold of all four of his limbs-- so far they’d joke. Bucky made fun of him for it sometimes, calling him a goody-two shoes and saying that he’d never be any fun. He transferred to teaching at a school in New York, and every year he ignored the Indiana Jones posters that Tony would manage to put up in his classroom for the first day.

Bucky had given up being a mercenary after a few years, more because he was tired of looking over his shoulder than anything else. One of his enemies had tried to kidnap Tony, and while that hadn’t worked out for the other guy, it wasn’t something Bucky wanted to encourage by staying in the game. His new job wasn’t any more safe however, and the less Tony thought about that the better.

There were good days and bad days, but mostly they were three idiots in love.

And if Tony refused to set foot in South America again, well. That was just good sense, considering their history.  "Do we have any plans tonight?" Steve asked.

"Yep. Sitting here and watching the movie," Tony said, making Bucky snort.

"So we don't have anywhere we need to be?"

"Nope."

Steve nodded to himself. "That's good." He didn't move for a minute, and when he did, it was only to shift positions. Another minute though, and he was angling Tony's face towards him and kissing him breathless.

"I uhm, take it we're not finishing the movie?"

"Wasn't planning on it." Steve pulled him into another kiss, and Bucky sat there, leisurely watching them and feeling his pants start to get tighter.

Bucky had to reach down and adjust himself when Tony moaned, arching into Steve even though the angle was uncomfortable. It did put Tony's ass on display-- more than usual-- and Bucky smoothed his hand over the curve of it. Because Tony was a fucking gorgeous human being, he just pushed himself into Bucky's touch without breaking away from Steve for a second. That gave him an idea, and he grinned wickedly. He pushed the bottom of Tony's shirt up his back and leaned down to kiss the bared skin. God he never got tired of this. Tony was warm under his lips, and he shivered when Bucky traced the indention of his spine. He was always so responsive, and he just about lost his mind when Bucky would lick him open. Now was a pretty great time to get him like that, Bucky decided.

The couch wasn't the best place for sex with all three of them, but Bucky wasn't about to let that stop him. He shifted so that he was on his knees behind Tony, and reached a hand around to massage his cock through his jeans. Tony's hips jerked with a choked off moan. Bucky wondered if he could get him to scream tonight; he bet he could. "Hey Stevie?"

"Hm?" He pulled back a little, lips wet and pinker than usual.

"Can I get a kiss?"

Tony rested his head against the back of the couch and thrust into Bucky's hand, but the point wasn't to get him off quite yet, so it didn't do much. Steve had one hand on the side of Tony's face, so he reached over with his free hand and tangled his fingers in Bucky's hair as he half leaned in and half pulled Bucky towards him. It wasn't Bucky's best kiss because he knew his jaw was going to be aching something fierce before the night ended, so he mostly just let Steve kiss him. It's not like he was going to be getting another kiss once he put his tongue in Tony's ass unless he brushed his teeth-- thoroughly-- so he didn't feel about being lazy.

"Mm." Steve dragged his teeth across Bucky's bottom lip as he pulled away. Bucky licked his lips, wishing they didn't have sensitivity or refractory periods to worry about because he would love to fuck Steve tonight, but he knew that Steve was probably planning on getting off with Tony. "Knew I liked ya for a reason."

"Like?" Steve repeated with a quirk of his eyebrows. "Pretty sure you love me by this point."

"Meh." Bucky grinned, leaning forward to snatch a quick kiss. "Go back t' kissing Tony ya punk."

"Bossy," he faux-complained.

"You're both bossy," Tony said, breathing hard as he rocked his hips against Bucky's hand.

Steve snorted. "You're not any better."

"Never said I was."

"Right," Steve said, clearly not believing him. He did go back to kissing him though, which was always a good thing because they had in fact stopped having sex more than once because they were more focused on the back and forth than getting naked.

Bucky reached his other hand around to Tony's fly and worked on getting his pants undone. Reluctantly, he stopped touching Tony's cock, needing the space and both hands to undo the button. Once his hand was out of the way, it was simple enough to get his pants open, having plenty of experience from this angle even if the pads of his fingers on the prosthetic were a touch slippery. It was easy to pull his pants and boxers down enough that Bucky could get where he needed to be.

Admittedly, Tony would have to get out of one of the pant legs before Bucky was finished because his thighs couldn't spread wide enough with his pants constraining him, but for now this was good. Bucky palmed one of his cheeks as he kissed the other, inching his way towards where he wanted to be. Because he was a fucking tease though, he got both his hands on Tony's ass and spread his cheeks apart and rubbed a dry finger over his hole first.

A full-body shiver went through Tony, and Steve glanced at Bucky to see what he was doing. Then, because he was an asshole, he laughed. But he wasn't a giant asshole because he went back to kissing Tony, even if he did put a hand on his crotch and grind down to relieve some of the tension.

Bucky swiped his tongue over Tony's entrance, not pausing when he tensed up because he knew it was just a reflex and not because he wanted Bucky to stop. Another couple minutes and he would loosen up, Bucky knew. So he licked at him again, wanting to put his hand on Tony's thigh but keeping it where it was because otherwise he'd be moving it back in twenty seconds so he could actually keep Tony open enough to get at him.

Tony was a keeping up a constant stream of noise, whimpering when Bucky would circle his hole with a finger, groaning when he plunged his tongue inside and started fucking him with it, and unsuccessfully trying to hold back even more noise by biting his lip but Steve would lick at his lips and Tony would open up without hesitating, letting out little whines as they worked him over.

Tony didn't exactly taste good, but all things considered, Bucky figured it was quite pleasant, and besides, he loved the way Tony was shaking with pleasure, body covered with a thin sheen of sweat. Bucky guessed, at least. It was hard to be sure with Tony's clothes half on.

"Tony baby we gotta get you outta these things," Bucky said, tugging on the waistband of his jeans.

Tony was breathing shakily, trying to put his mind together enough to respond.

"Not on the couch," Steve said.

"Buzzkill." Bucky wiped at his chin and got to his feet, wobbling a little from the stiffness in his legs from being in the same position for so long.

Steve didn't even try to get Tony to stand, just scooped him up and carried him to the room with his ass hanging out, shirt rucked up and pants trapped around his legs. Luckily their bedroom was close by, and Steve was dumping Tony on the bed then stripping Tony's jeans off. Bucky grabbed one of his hands to pull him up to a sitting position, then pulled off his shirt. It ruffled his hair as it came off, leaving him with a slightly surprised look, like he was startled to find himself naked on his bed with his boyfriends.

"Fucking adorable," Bucky mumbled, running a hand through Tony's hair before giving his shoulder a gentle shove. He went down easily, bringing his knees up slightly in invitation, but Bucky shook his head. "You ain't near loose enough for that sweet thing, turn over."

Tony did, bracing his knees under himself, wide enough that Bucky would hardly have to hold him open at all. He grinned, stripping off his own shirt before climbing behind Tony. Tony grabbed a pillow when he felt Bucky's hand smoothing over his thigh, shoving it under his head and wrapping his arms around it.

Bucky started fucking Tony with his tongue, using one of his metal fingers to smooth over his perineum as he rested his flesh and blood hand over Tony's prosthetic. He didn't think about what Steve was doing, too focused on trying to make Tony scream to spare a thought for it. But then he felt fingers in his hair, working tangles out as Steve put his hair in a ponytail for him, and he paused to give him a short glare.

Steve grinned, all smug, and pushed his head back towards Tony.

"You gonna do anythin' or just stand there an' watch?"

"Nothing wrong with watching," Steve pointed out, grin still splitting his face. "You were plenty happy watching last week. Now get back to it before Tony gets upset with ya." He flicked the end of Bucky's ponytail to be annoying, then massaged his shoulder where the metal merged into skin to be sweet.

"Jackass," Bucky muttered, before going back to worshiping Tony's body. If Tony did mind the little interlude, he didn't say anything, but he did press back into Bucky's face as soon as he dove back down. He was suspicious about what Steve was going to do, but it turned out that he just grabbed the lube. He pulled on Bucky's hand until he finally gave in, and rubbed some over his first two fingers. Bucky moved his head up and rubbed at the bottom of Tony's rim with his finger, pressing inside easily and thanking the lord that Steve had thought to grab the flavored lube.

Tony was so relaxed that it took hardly any time to get him stretched, and Bucky gave his ass a bite before moving to the side for Steve. He already had a condom on, and when he saw Bucky moving away, he grabbed the lube and spread it over his cock. God Bucky wanted to suck him off, wanted to fucking choke on Steve's dick so that his voice would be hoarse the next day, and he bit hard on his palm to ground himself and bring him back to the moment.

Steve was pressing inside ever so gently, and Tony of course, was rolling his hips to take Steve in further since he wasn't doing it fast enough. Bucky laid back, at a weird diagonal position so that he was resting but still had a good view of the way Steve's cock was disappearing inside Tony. Steve paused when his hips were pressed to Tony's backside, and all that could be heard was their heavy breathing. Bucky smoothed his prosthetic over Tony's, then trailed his fingers up Steve's thigh.

"Gorgeous." He didn't realize he'd said it out loud until Steve glanced at him, expression impossibly fond.

"I'll get you off once I'm done honey, I promise."

"Looking forward to it," Bucky said. He'd meant for it to be sardonic, but it came out sincere, even desperate. God if the him of five years ago could see this, he wouldn’t believe a single piece of this. Luckily, Bucky didn’t give a shit about that because he was happier than he’d ever been, and he knew that Steve and Tony felt the same way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Indiana Jones comparison is from Buried btw. Thanks again to NotEvenCloseToStraight for letting me play around in her world I had so much fun! I'm on tumblr [@cami-chats](http://cami-chats.tumblr.com) if you wanna scream or chat or smthn


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